Mitt Romneyhttp://www.pfaw.org/
Tue, 09 Aug 2016 14:52:39 -0400Tue, 09 Aug 2016 14:52:39 -0400Glenn Beck: Mitt Romney Should Be Drafted In Case Trump Implodeshttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/glenn-beck-mitt-romney-should-be-drafted-case-trump-implodes
<p>On his radio show today, Glenn Beck became so alarmed over Donald Trump's <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/election-update-trumps-slump-deepens-in-polls/">cratering poll numbers</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/upshot/presidential-polls-forecast.html?_r=0">forecasts</a> showing him falling further and further behind Hillary Clinton that he called on Mitt Romney to throw his hat into the ring just so that Republicans have someone to vote for in case Trump has a complete meltdown.</p>
<p>"I am not a Romney fan," Beck said, but "Romney should be drafted at this point and put his name in on Friday just in case this guy implodes and is 20 points behind. We have to have some place else to go."</p>
<p>"I really think that we have to draft somebody," <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=535yAn62tPE">he said</a>. "I know he hates my guts, but I think we should reach out to Mitt Romney ... or maybe I should reach out to Ted [Cruz]" and encourage them to "just put your name on the ballot in case we start to have [Trump falling] 20 points behind."</p>
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Kyle MantylaC4Election 2016Mitt RomneyDonald TrumpGlenn BeckFighting the Right77676Tue, 09 Aug 2016 13:52:39 -0500Mitt RomneyBryan Fischer Rewrites History Regarding His Feud With Mitt Romneyhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bryan-fischer-rewrites-history-regarding-his-feud-mitt-romney
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/Bryan-Fischer_II.jpg?1421078558" />
<p>American Family Radio's Bryan Fischer has an amazing ability to "misremember" history, especially when doing so allows him to <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bryan-fischer-falsely-claims-he-never-said-african-americans-rut-rabbits">conveniently ignore</a> his own well-documented record of unmitigated bigotry.</p>
<p>In the latest example, Fischer dedicated a portion of his radio program <a href="https://www.facebook.com/313269202224/videos/10154334532647225/">yesterday</a> to promoting the upcoming <a href="http://www.valuesvotersummit.org/">Values Voter Summit</a>, which ended with him recounting that the last time he spoke at the annual event back in 2011, he was <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/romney-calls-out-bryan-fischers-bigotry">denounced from the stage</a> by Mitt Romney, who would go on to secure the Republican presidential nomination:</p>
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<blockquote>
<p>Our values ennoble the citizen, and they strengthen the nation. We should remember that decency and civility are values too. One of the speakers who will follow me today, has crossed that line I think. Poisonous language does not advance our cause. It has never softened a single heart nor changed a single mind. The blessings of faith carry the responsibility of civil and respectful debate. The task before us is to focus on the conservative beliefs and the values that unite us &ndash; let no agenda, narrow our vision or drive us apart.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Fischer's retelling of the episode, he falsely claimed that Romney attacked him because he had <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-romney-you-want-win-election-you-better-start-listening-me">criticized</a> the Romney campaign for hiring a national security and foreign policy spokesman, Richard Grenell, who was openly gay:</p>
<p align="Center"><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/276642873&color=ff0000&auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_user=true&show_reposts=false"></iframe></p>
<p>In reality, Romney criticized Fischer because of his <a href="http://www.pfaw.org/press-releases/2011/09/romney-to-share-stage-with-bryan-fischer?_ga=1.264085260.1656064378.1414681751">long history of unapologetic bigotry</a> and not because of the Grenell incident, which didn't occur until months <em><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-grenell-resignation-huge-win-religious-right">after</a></em> Romney <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/romney-calls-out-bryan-fischers-bigotry">called him out</a> from the stage. It was, in fact, because Fischer was <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-plays-victim-decries-romneys-rude-and-insulting-attack-him">so</a> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bryan-fischer-pleads-ignorance-about-his-poisonous-language">outraged</a> by Romney's criticism of him that he <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-electing-spiritually-compromised-candidate-romney-will-weaken-america">waged</a> his <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-romney-you-want-win-election-you-better-start-listening-me">one-man war</a> against Grenell in the first place, which ultimately resulted in Grenell <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-grenell-resignation-huge-win-religious-right">resigning</a> from the Romney campaign.</p>
Kyle MantylaAmerican Family Association C4Mitt RomneyFighting the RightBryan Fischer77406Wed, 03 Aug 2016 09:24:28 -0500Mitt RomneyKelly Shackelford: Trump Would Pick A More Conservative Supreme Court Than Mitt Romneyhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kelly-shackelford-trump-would-pick-more-conservative-supreme-court-mitt-romney
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="561" height="327" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_images/donaldtrumpGOP_2016_Iowa.JPEG-06f62_c0-0-4752-2769_s561x327_0.jpg?1438191663" />
<p>Kelly Shackelford, president of the Religious Right legal group First Liberty (formerly Liberty Institute), was among the conservative religious leaders who met with Donald Trump in New York last month and, like many others, seems to have resigned himself to supporting Trump&rsquo;s presidential candidacy on the assumption that Trump would hand over the process of picking Supreme Court justices to movement conservatives.</p>
<p>Shackelford said as much in an <a href="http://www.jerrynewcombe.com/vocal-point-kelly-shackelford/">interview</a> with Jerry Newcombe last week, explaining that while he wasn&rsquo;t endorsing Trump, it&rsquo;s &ldquo;very conceivable&rdquo; that, if elected, Trump would pick a more conservative Supreme Court than even Mitt Romney would have because he&rsquo;s &ldquo;going to sort of pass this off&rdquo; to conservative groups like the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation.</p>
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<p>Trump <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/transcript-donald-trumps-closed-door-meeting-with-evangelical-leaders-195810824.html">mentioned both groups</a> in response to a question from Shackelford at the New York event, also promising that his judicial nominees would be &ldquo;100 percent&rdquo; against abortion rights.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Look, I haven&rsquo;t endorsed anybody for president, I&rsquo;m not telling people who to vote for, but I do think people need to think through some of these things,&rdquo; Shackelford told Newcombe. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying this would happen, but it&rsquo;s very conceivable that Donald Trump, who is certainly not considered a right-wing conservative, it&rsquo;s very, very possible that a Donald Trump as president would appoint a more conservative Supreme Court than, for instance, Mitt Romney would ever think about. Because Mitt Romney would appoint people more moderate like himself, you know, moderate conservative. Donald Trump is going to sort of pass this off to like the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, which are very conservative.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;So it&rsquo;s one of those things where sometimes you can look at the candidate and go, &lsquo;Well, he&rsquo;s not as conservative as I am,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but really what you&rsquo;re asking is what are they going to do as president, what their positions are going to be. And it could be that if your issue is the courts, you know, Trump could be very different than you would normally assume because he&rsquo;s delegating this away from himself and the results might be more appetizing to people who are very conservative.&rdquo;</p>
Miranda BlueC4Election 2016First Liberty Institutejudicial nominationsKelly Shackelford Liberty InstituteMitt RomneySupreme CourtDonald TrumpFighting the Right76021Tue, 05 Jul 2016 13:46:16 -0500Mitt RomneyThe Year Bryan Fischer Became 'Mainstream'http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/year-bryan-fischer-was-mainstreamed
<p>Back in 2011, when Mitt Romney was in the starting months of his presidential campaign, he <a href="http://www.pfaw.org/press-releases/2011/09/romney-share-stage-bryan-fischer-pfaw-urges-candidates-denounce-bigotry">accepted an invitation</a> to speak at the Values Voter Summit, an annual event organized by the Family Research Council. The VVS always attracts an assortment of far-right activists, but that year Romney was scheduled to speak directly before <a href="http://www.pfaw.org/rww-in-focus/the-gop-s-favorite-hate-monger-how-the-republican-party-came-to-embrace-bryan-fischer" title="http://www.pfaw.org/rww-in-focus/the-gop-s-favorite-hate-monger-how-the-republican-party-came-to-embrace-bryan-fischer
Ctrl+Click or tap to follow the link"> Bryan Fischer</a>, an inflamatory American Family Association official and radio host who had viciously insulted everyone from LGBT people to women to Muslims to Native Americans to medal of honor recipients to Romney&rsquo;s fellow Mormons.</p>
<p>After facing a public outcry for choosing to appear beside Fischer, Romney <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/romney-calls-out-bryan-fischers-bigotry">called out Fischer</a> in his speech &mdash; albeit not by name &mdash; decrying the &ldquo;poisonous language&rdquo; of &ldquo;one of the speakers who will follow me today.&rdquo;</p>
<p>After that year, Fischer was nowhere to be found at the Values Voter Summit, although his employer, the American Family Association, continued to cosponsor the event.</p>
<p>Then, in January of last year, Fischer was, for a moment, edged further out of the conservative mainstream. When a group of 60 members of the Republican National Committee <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rnc-teams-anti-gay-extremist-and-hate-group">embarked on a trip to Israel</a> organized by Christian-nation advocate David Lane and paid for by the AFA, the RNC was forced to answer why it was sending members on a junket financed by a group whose spokesman was one of the most vitriolic voices of hate in the country &mdash; and one who said the First Amendment applies only to Christians. Facing a diplomatic incident with the GOP, the AFA <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rnc-teams-anti-gay-extremist-and-hate-group">finally stripped Fischer of his title</a> with the organization, although he kept his daily radio program with its affiliate, American Family Radio.</p>
<p>But that was then and this is now.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, we <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/extremist-anti-gay-anti-muslim-bigot-bryan-fischer-join-ted-cruz-mississippi-campaign-rally-">reported</a> that Fischer was scheduled to join Sen. Ted Cruz at a campaign rally in Mississippi. The event was eventually canceled: not because of Fischer&rsquo;s extremism but <a href="http://www.joemygod.com/2016/03/08/mississippi-ted-cruz-says-hes-too-sick-to-attend-rally-with-hate-group-crackpot-bryan-fischer/"> because Cruz was reportedly ill </a> .</p>
<p>And, although Fischer remains one of the most hateful voices on the Right, he is hardly any more controversial than many of the figures with whom the leading Republican candidates have surrounded themselves in 2016 &mdash; or even, in some cases, the candidates themselves. As soon as the GOP began to ostracize Bryan Fischer, it was taken over by Bryan Fischer&rsquo;s ideology.</p>
<p>Fischer himself <a href="https://vimeo.com/160136802">pointed this out</a> on his radio program last week as he prepared to discuss a column in which he <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cruz-backer-bryan-fischer-calls-ban-mosques-de-islamize-america">reiterated his long-held views</a> that Muslims immigrants should be barred from the U.S., American Muslims should be shut out of the U.S. military and state governments should ban the construction of mosques. Things that he&rsquo;s been saying for years, he said, that were once perceived as &ldquo;outlandish&rdquo; and &ldquo;off-the-charts lunacy,&rdquo; have now &ldquo;become virtually mainstream.&rdquo;</p>
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<p>He&rsquo;s right. In fact, when we began to look through some of Fischer&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/extremist-anti-gay-anti-muslim-bigot-bryan-fischer-join-ted-cruz-mississippi-campaign-rally-"> most controversial statements </a> &mdash; which are bad enough that he was publicly rejected by the 2012 Republican nominee &mdash; we found that they weren&rsquo;t too different from things that Republican presidential frontrunners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz say every day.</p>
<p>Although Fischer has campaigned for Cruz and <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bryan-fischer-says-donald-trumps-evangelical-support-being-orchestrated-satan">openly despises Trump</a>, his ideology and rhetoric is echoed by both campaigns. (Although, thankfully, neither candidate has called for <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-sea-world-death-due-wests-failure-follow-scripture">stoning whales</a> &hellip; at least not yet.)</p>
<p><u>On Muslim immigration...</u></p>
<p><strong>Fischer: &lsquo;Stop Muslim immigration into the United States&rsquo;</strong></p>
<p>Fischer was far ahead of the trend when it came to anti-Muslim bigotry,<a href="http://blog.pfaw.org/content/afas-fischer-muslim-citizens-are-traitors-and-must-be-expelled">calling as early as 2010</a> for the U.S. to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20100414131155/http:/action.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147493395">block all Muslim immigration</a>, &ldquo;repatriate&rdquo; Muslims who are already here, ban American Muslims <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/afa-time-has-come-purge-military-all-muslims?_ga=1.264640009.703824130.1440781037"> from serving in the U.S. military, </a> and impose a policy of &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-no-more-mosques-period">no more mosques, period</a>.&rdquo; Fischer repeated these demands <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cruz-backer-bryan-fischer-calls-ban-mosques-de-islamize-america">just last week</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Trump: &lsquo;A total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States&rsquo;</strong></p>
<p>He was several years behind Fischer, but Trump called last year for a <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/trump-ban-muslim-immigration-make-america-great-again"> temporary ban on all of the world&rsquo;s 1.6 billion Muslims entering the United States </a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-syrian-refugees_us_560cdf1be4b076812700d2d9"> deporting Syrian refugees who have been resettled </a> in America, which have since become central planks in his platform. Echoing Fischer, Trump has also said that if he were to become president, he would have &ldquo;no choice&rdquo; but to <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/trump-close-mosques-216008">close some mosques</a> and once flirted with the idea of setting up a government database to <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-says-he-would-certainly-implement-muslim-database-n466716">monitor all Muslims</a>. Cruz, for his part, has called for <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/260317-cruz-to-offer-bill-banning-syrian-refugees"> banning the resettlement of Muslim refugees from Syria</a>.</p>
<p><u>On religious freedom for Muslims ...</u></p>
<p><strong>Fischer: &lsquo;Islam has no fundamental First Amendment claims&rsquo;</strong></p>
<p>Fischer justifies his anti-Muslim plans by claiming that <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-no-first-amendment-rights-muslims"> the First Amendment does not apply to Muslims</a> or any other non-Christian religion and asserts that any religious liberty rights extended to non-Christians are simply a &ldquo;courtesy&rdquo;:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Islam has no fundamental First Amendment claims, for the simple reason that it was not written to protect the religion of Islam. Islam is entitled only to the religious liberty we extend to it out of courtesy. While there certainly ought to be a presumption of religious liberty for non-Christian religious traditions in America, the Founders were not writing a suicide pact when they wrote the First Amendment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Cruz: &lsquo;Patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods&rsquo;</strong></p>
<p>When Cruz called for the U.S. to &ldquo;patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods&rdquo; in response to this week&rsquo;s terrorist attacks in Belgium, it came as no surprise since he has <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cruzs-call-patrol-and-secure-muslim-neighborhoods-echoes-demands-extremist-advisers"> surrounded himself with advisers </a> who argue, like Fischer, that Muslims do not deserve the same civil rights and civil liberties as other Americans.</p>
<p>One Cruz adviser, the Family Research Council&rsquo;s Jerry Boykin, has <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cruzs-call-patrol-and-secure-muslim-neighborhoods-echoes-demands-extremist-advisers">explicitly said</a> that &ldquo;Islam is not a religion and does not deserve First Amendment protections.&rdquo; In an interview with Fischer, Boykin called for &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/boykin-tries-backtrack-his-no-mosques-america-comment">no mosques in America</a>.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Trump, for his part, has <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-riles-up-sc-crowd-with-muslim-talk-i-promise-i-will-defend-you-from-profiling/">repeatedly</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/12/06/trump-there-can-be-profiling-of-muslims-if-neighbors-relatives-are-suspicious/"> called for </a> government profiling of Muslims.</p>
<p><u>On Mormonism and Mitt Romney ...</u></p>
<p><strong>Fischer: &lsquo;I&rsquo;m more Mormon&rsquo; than Mitt Romney</strong></p>
<p>Fischer has never been a fan of the Mormon faith, insisting that <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-first-amendment-does-not-apply-mormons">the First Amendment doesn&rsquo;t apply to Mormons</a> and warning that a Mormon president like Romney would threaten the nation&rsquo;s &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-mormon-president-threatens-spiritual-health-nation">spiritual health</a>.&rdquo; However, when Fischer deemed Romney to not be anti-gay enough, he declared that he himself was &ldquo;<a href="http://religiondispatches.org/mormon-bashing-bryan-fischer-says-hes-more-mormon-than-mitt-romney/">more Mormon</a>&rdquo; than the candidate.</p>
<p>At one point, Fischer <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-defense-i-am-not-anti-mormon-i-am-anti-mormonism">clarified</a> that he had &ldquo;love&rdquo; for Mormons and just wanted them &ldquo;to come into the full light of the truth&rdquo; and abandon their faith.</p>
<p><strong>Trump: &lsquo;Are you sure he&rsquo;s a Mormon?&rsquo;</strong></p>
<p>Although Trump may &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/trump-loves-mormons-his-favorite-pastor-says-they-are-led-satan">love the Mormons</a>,&rdquo; he has been <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/trump-loves-mormons-his-favorite-pastor-says-they-are-led-satan"> out on the campaign trail with Robert Jeffress </a> , an extremist pastor who says that Mormonism and Islam are demonic faiths &ldquo;from the pit of hell&rdquo; (and that the Roman Catholic Church was created by Satan). It was in a radio interview with Fischer at the 2011 Values Voter Summit that Jeffress, who was stumping for Rick Perry, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/jeffress-vote-perry-because-romney-not-true-christian">declared</a> that Romney is not a &ldquo;true&rdquo; Christian because Mormonism is a &ldquo;cult.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Like Fischer, Trump has <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/18/politics/donald-trump-mormon-mitt-romney-utah/index.html">questioned Romney&rsquo;s faith</a> after Romney criticized him, asking a crowd in Utah: &ldquo;Are you sure he&rsquo;s a Mormon?&rdquo;</p>
<p><u>On LGBT rights ...</u></p>
<p><strong>Fischer: &lsquo;Rainbow jihadists&rsquo; on the Supreme Court &lsquo;blasted the twin pillars of truth and righteousness into rubble.&rsquo;</strong></p>
<p>Fischer reacted with predictable reason and restraint to the Supreme Court&rsquo;s landmark Obergefell marriage equality ruling, comparing it to 9/11, Pearl Harbor and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and referring to the justices in the majority as &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bryan-fischer-compares-gay-marriage-ruling-911-slavery-pearl-harbor-and-sodom-and-gomorrah">rainbow jihadists</a>.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Cruz: The gay community is waging &lsquo;jihad&rsquo; against religious freedom</strong></p>
<p>In this case, Fischer may have picked up a turn of phrase from Cruz, who several weeks before the Obergefell ruling <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ted-cruz-gay-community-waging-jihad-against-religious-freedom">accused</a> LGBT rights activists of waging &ldquo;jihad&rdquo; against the religious freedom of Christians.</p>
<p><u>On the role of women ...</u></p>
<p><strong>Fischer: God &lsquo;designed&rsquo; women to be good secretaries</strong></p>
<p>Fischer <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bryan-fischer-explains-why-he-only-hires-women-secretaries">explained</a> back in 2014 that he wouldn't consider male applicants for receptionist and secretary positions at his church because God &ldquo;designed&rdquo; women &ldquo;to be warm, to be hospitable, to be open-hearted, to be open-handed, to have their arms open, to be welcoming, to be receptive, to create a nurturing, welcoming environment.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Trump: &lsquo;It really doesn't matter what they write, as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass&rsquo;</strong></p>
<p>Trump may have a different view of women in the workplace than Fischer, but it <a href="http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/blogs/550112/donald-trump-quotes.html">isn&rsquo;t any more enlightened.</a></p>
<p><u>On science ...</u></p>
<p><strong>Fischer: &lsquo;Liberals are absolutely anti-science when it comes climatology and global warming&rsquo;</strong></p>
<p>Fischer contends that when it comes to climate change, it&rsquo;s the scientists who are &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-climate-science-believing-sun-revolves-around-earth">absolutely anti-science</a>,&rdquo; citing God&rsquo;s promise to Noah in the Bible that he would <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-rising-sea-levels-are-no-concern-because-god-will-never-destroy-earth-flood-waters"> never again destroy the earth with flood</a>s. He also believes that the theory of evolution is &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-evolution-completely-irrational-and-scientifically-bankrupt">completely irrational and scientifically bankrupt </a>&rdquo;and argues that people who believe in evolution should be &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-people-who-believe-evolution-are-disqualified-holding-political-office-united-states">disqualified from holding public office</a>.&rdquo; Fischer has filled the vacuum left by actual science with some of his own creative theories, such as that <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bryan-fischer-says-dinosaurs-were-just-giant-1000-year-old-lizards"> dinosaurs were actually giant, 1,000-year-old lizards</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Cruz: &lsquo;Climate change is not science, it&rsquo;s religion&rsquo;</strong></p>
<p>Cruz similarly thinks that it&rsquo;s climate scientists who are being illogical, telling Glenn Beck last year that &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ted-cruz-climate-change-not-science-its-religion">climate change is not science, it's religion</a>.&rdquo; Trump is also &ldquo;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/03/22/this-is-the-only-type-of-climate-change-donald-trump-believes-in/">not a big believer</a>&rdquo; in climate change, which he has dismissed as &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/donald-trump-denies-existence-climate-change-bad-weather">bad weather</a>&rdquo; and <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/265895292191248385?lang=en">a Chinese fabrication</a> designed to destroy the U.S. economy.</p>
<p>While Cruz has <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/2015/12/this-npr-talk-with-ted-cruz-illustrates-perfectly-why-hes-dumber-than-your-kindergartner-on-climate-change/"> deflected </a> questions about evolution, his father and campaign surrogate, Rafael Cruz, has <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rafael-cruz-evolution-communist-lie-gay-rights-endanger-children">called the theory &ldquo;baloney&rdquo;</a> and suggested that it was a communist plot to &ldquo;destroy the concept of God.&rdquo;</p>
<p><u>On the military ...</u></p>
<p><strong>Fischer: We&rsquo;ve &lsquo;feminized&rsquo; the medal of honor by giving it to service members who haven&rsquo;t killed people</strong></p>
<p>In 2010, Fischer <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/bryan-fischer-we-ve-feminized-medal-of-honor-by-not-giving-it-to-soldiers-who-kill-more-people">reacted</a> to the awarding of the medal of honor to an Army sergeant who had rescued two of his fellow soldiers in battle by lamenting that we have &ldquo;feminized&rdquo; the military honor by awarding it &ldquo;for preventing casualties, not for inflicting them."</p>
<p><strong>Trump: &lsquo;I like people who weren&rsquo;t captured&rsquo;</strong></p>
<p>Trump, who, like Fischer, has never served in the military, made headlines last summer when he attacked Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for his time as a prisoner of war, saying, &ldquo;<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/trump-attacks-mccain-i-like-people-who-werent-captured-120317">I like people who weren&rsquo;t captured</a>.&rdquo; <strong> </strong></p>
Miranda BlueAmerican Family Association Anti-GayAnti-MuslimC4Climate changeElection 2016Equality For AllEvolutionJerry BoykinMarriage EqualityMitt RomneyRafael CruzReligious FreedomTed Cruzwar on womenAmerican Family RadioDonald TrumpGlenn BeckFighting the RightFreedom of SpeechReligious LibertyBryan Fischer71411Tue, 29 Mar 2016 13:23:33 -0500Mitt RomneyReligious Right Leaders Rally Around Ted Cruz At Secret Endorsement Meetinghttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-leaders-rally-around-ted-cruz-secret-endorsement-meeting
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/Ted_Cruz_VVS.jpg?1412345075" />
<p>Religious Right leaders are intent on being the ones to pick the Republican presidential nominee this time around and they&rsquo;re <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428515/conservative-leaders-ted-cruz-earns-allegiance-private-meeting">throwing their collective weight behind Ted Cruz</a>.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">The movement&rsquo;s leaders have been seething for eight years now that they were forced to rally behind Republican presidential candidates they weren&rsquo;t excited about &mdash; John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012.&nbsp; After years of angling to prevent that from happening in 2016, &ldquo;several dozen&rdquo; Religious Right leaders met in secret in early December and </span><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428515/conservative-leaders-ted-cruz-earns-allegiance-private-meeting" style="line-height: 20.4px;">voted</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;"> to rally around </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/ted-cruz/ted-cruz" style="line-height: 20.4px;">Ted Cruz</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428515/conservative-leaders-ted-cruz-earns-allegiance-private-meeting" style="line-height: 20.4px;" title="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428515/conservative-leaders-ted-cruz-earns-allegiance-private-meeting
Ctrl+Click or tap to follow the link">National Review&rsquo;s Tim Alberta describes the event</a><span style="line-height: 20.4px;">, which Cruz backers entered with the upper hand. It took five ballots for Cruz's supporters&nbsp;to browbeat backers of Marco Rubio into submission and give Cruz the three-quarters supermajority needed. Those who attended the meeting had vowed to either publicly support the eventual winner of the day&rsquo;s balloting or to remain silent in the Republican primary. Reports Allen,</span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">The impact was felt immediately on the 2016 campaign. Three prominent participants &mdash; direct-mail pioneer and longtime activist Richard&nbsp;Viguerie, the National Organization for Marriage&rsquo;s Brian Brown, and The Family Leader&rsquo;s Bob Vander&nbsp;Plaats&nbsp;&ndash; announced their support of Cruz&nbsp;within 72 hours&nbsp;of the meeting at the Sheraton.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Cruz, of course, had plenty of conservative evangelical support before this meeting. We noted back in the summer that he was <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ted-cruz-winning-christian-nation-primary">consolidating support from the Christian Nation crowd</a>, including <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/david-barton">discredited &ldquo;historian&rdquo; David Barton</a> &nbsp;&mdash; &nbsp;who heads a Cruz super PAC &nbsp;&mdash; &nbsp;and <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fracking-sugar-daddy-religious-right">billionaire fracking brothers Farris and Dan Wilks</a> &nbsp;&mdash; &nbsp;who have pumped <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-billionaire-wilks-bros-give-millions-ted-cruz-super-pac">$15 million into the pro-Cruz super PAC effort</a>. Since then, Cruz has been holding and attending &ldquo;religious liberty&rdquo; events &nbsp;&mdash; &nbsp;including one <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/maddow-cruz-must-answer-appearance-kill-gays-conference">hosted by a pastor who calls for the execution of gays</a>, and <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ted-cruz-plans-religious-liberty-rally-college-claimed-bible-backing-racist-policies">one at Bob Jones University</a>, famous for claiming religious backing for its racial segregationist policies.</p>
<p>Cruz openly promotes the efforts of <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/david-lane">Christian-nation zealot David Lane</a> to &ldquo;take back&rdquo; the country by using pastor-candidates to mobilize high evangelical turnout. <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ted-cruz-winning-christian-nation-primary">Cruz told American Family Association&rsquo;s Tim Wildmon</a> this summer, &ldquo;Nothing is more important in the next 18 months than that the body of Christ rise up and that Christians stand up, that pastors stand up and lead.&rdquo;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/meet-david-lane-anti-gay-christian-nation-extremist-rnc">Lane</a>, who matches Cruz&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/republican-presidential-hopefuls-favorite-christian-nation-extremist">contempt</a> for &ldquo;establishment&rdquo; Republicans, said back in 2013, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to try to eliminate the stuff that [GOP leaders] do to us every four years, which is picking somebody who has no chance of being viable and they kill us off and we have the McCains and the Romneys left.&rdquo; Lane had cheered attacks on Romney&rsquo;s faith and the &ldquo;false god of Mormonism.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Cruz has been <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/whos-ted-cruz-next-senator-tea-party">courting Religious Right activists for years</a>, even before the underdog, Tea Party-fueled victory in the GOP primary that propelled him into the U.S. Senate. Back before that election, he told the Freedom Federation&rsquo;s Awakening conference, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/far-right-ted-cruz-forces-texas-lt-gov-senate-primary-runoff">&ldquo;we are engaged in spiritual warfare every day.&rdquo;</a> That message hasn&rsquo;t changed: <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cruz-prayer-team-were-spiritual-battle-against-gay-marriage">Just last week his campaign&rsquo;s &ldquo;prayer team&rdquo;</a> was told that &ldquo;we&rsquo;re in a spiritual battle today as never before.&rdquo;</p>
<p>For the Religious Right, what&rsquo;s not to like about Cruz? His anti-gay, anti-choice, and anti-government bona fides are unquestionable. His father, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/rafael-cruz">Rafael Cruz</a>, an unabashed Christian-nation extremist and anti-gay bigot who says that it is God&rsquo;s plan for his son to be president, makes an effective ambassador for Cruz to the far right.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/adriancarrasquillo/hispanic-republicans-blast-ted-cruz-after-private-meeting-wi#.edgrQNGD6">Is anyone not jumping on the Cruz bandwagon?</a> A <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/adriancarrasquillo/hispanic-republicans-blast-ted-cruz-after-private-meeting-wi#.edgrQNGD6">group of Latino Republicans</a> held a press conference yesterday to denounce Cruz for his anti-immigrant positions &nbsp;&mdash; &nbsp;which they said were the same Romney &ldquo;self-deportation&rdquo; policies by another name &nbsp;&mdash; &nbsp;and for Cruz&rsquo;s support of Donald Trump&rsquo;s bigotry.</p>
<p>The Family Research Council&rsquo;s Tony Perkins, a leader of the effort to get the Religious Right to rally around a single candidate, has tried this before, without much success. In 2012, Perkins and other conservative evangelicals had tried to create unity around a single alternative to Romney. Perkins <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/14/christian-conservative-leaders-vote-to-back-santorum/">declared after a January 2012 gathering</a> that Rick&nbsp;Santorum had emerged with a &ldquo;strong consensus.&rdquo;</p>
<p>But <a href="http://swampland.time.com/2012/01/16/social-conservatives-splinter-as-gingrich-backers-dispute-claims-of-santorum-consensus/">the voting process and outcome were disputed by Newt&nbsp;Gingrich supporters</a>, and the idea that evangelical leaders could deliver their followers to Santorum was undermined when Gingrich won the next event, South Carolina&rsquo;s primary. Richard Viguerie, among others, <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/santorums-influential-conservative-backers-work-on-gingrich-money-71516/">urged Gingrich to drop out</a> in order to boost Santorum&rsquo;s chances. In the end, Santorum went on to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/14/politics/campaign-wrap/">win other southern primaries</a> but couldn&rsquo;t catch Romney.</p>
<p>In January 2012, after he won that supposed consensus endorsement for Santorum, Perkins <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/14/christian-conservative-leaders-vote-to-back-santorum/">dismissed suggestions</a> that the meeting was too late to have an impact, even though it came after Romney had already won Iowa and New Hampshire and was building up a head of steam. Perkins clearly decided not to let that happen again.</p>
Peter Montgomery2016 CandidatesAmerican Family Association Anti-GayChurch-StateElection 2016Marco RubioMitt RomneyNewt Gingrich Republican PartyRick Santorum Ted CruzTony Perkins American Renewal ProjectDavid Barton David LaneFamily Research CouncilFighting the Right66761Tue, 15 Dec 2015 12:43:06 -0500Mitt RomneyRight Wing Bonus Tracks - 10/23/15http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-bonus-tracks-102315
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_rww/Bonus_Trax2.jpg?1400622005" />
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Mitt Romney <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/10/23/staples-founder-thomas-stemberg-dies/3i4GgQA1zIxieMYAeZFmkJ/story.html?event=event25"> accidentally tells the truth </a> about how his policies as governor of Massachusetts laid the groundwork for Obamacare.</li>
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Rep. Greg Walden, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/24/us/politics/conservative-pacs-turn-attack-on-gop-leaders-into-fund-raising-tool.html?_r=0"> says there should be an investigation </a> into Tea Party groups that may be scamming donors.</li>
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<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.6364px;">More </span><a href="http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/rehomed-girls-to-appear-on-2020-to-debunk-rep-justin-harris-claims-about-their-demonic-behavior/" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.6364px;">bad news</a><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.6364px;"> for the </span><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ted-cruz-fundraiser-honor-lawmaker-implicated-child-abuse-scandal" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.6364px;">&ldquo;pro-family&rdquo; Arkansas lawmaker</a><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.6364px;"> implicated in a child abuse scandal.</span></li>
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<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.6364px;">&ldquo;</span><a href="http://barbwire.com/2015/10/23/breaking-ryan-supports-homosexual-civil-rights/" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.6364px;">BREAKING</a><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.6364px;">&rdquo; from BarbWire: Paul Ryan voted for ENDA &hellip; eight years ago.</span></li>
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Actual news <a href="http://christiannewswire.com/news/4007376911.html">out of Utah</a>: &ldquo;God&rsquo;s Not Dead 2 Will Premier at World Congress of Families IX in Salt Lake City on October 28.&rdquo;</li>
</ul>
Brian TashmanC4LeftoversMitt RomneyFighting the Right64216Fri, 23 Oct 2015 16:40:03 -0500Mitt RomneyDonald Trump: 'I Am Seriously Thinking Of Running For President' Because 'We Can’t Have Bush'http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/donald-trump-i-am-seriously-thinking-running-president-because-we-can-t-have-bush
<p>Donald Trump is still trying to convince people that he might actually run for president this time, telling today&rsquo;s Iowa Freedom Summit that he is &ldquo;seriously thinking of running for president&rdquo; because Romney &ldquo;choked&rdquo; and we &ldquo;can&rsquo;t have Bush.&rdquo;</p>
<p>After claiming that he was the first person to say that it wouldn&rsquo;t be smart to nominate Jeb Bush because of George W. Bush&rsquo;s legacy, Trump laid into Jeb Bush, criticizing him for his support for Common Core and his softening position on immigration.</p>
<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s very, very weak on immigration,&rdquo; Trump said of Bush. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t forget, remember his statement, &lsquo;they come for love&rsquo;? Say what? &lsquo;Come for love&rsquo;? You&rsquo;ve got these people coming, half of them are criminals. I mean, they&rsquo;re coming for &lsquo;love&rsquo;? They&rsquo;re coming for a lot of other reasons, and it&rsquo;s not love.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I am seriously thinking of running for president because I can do the job,&rdquo; he told the crowd.</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.pfaw.org//www.youtube.com/embed/t4DBDW3WFQU" width="560"></iframe></p>
Miranda BlueC4Election 2016Iowa Freedom SummitJeb BushMitt RomneyDonald TrumpFighting the Right49599Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:19:13 -0500Mitt RomneyGlenn Beck Warns Against Those Dangerous Mormons Who Want To 'Mix The Gospel With Government'http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/glenn-beck-warns-against-those-dangerous-mormons-who-want-mix-gospel-government
<p>Potential Republican presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney are scheduled to have a private meeting today in Salt Lake City, Utah, and even though this is <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/2088937-155/mitt-romney-and-jeb-bush-to">reportedly</a> a social meeting that was planned months ago, well before either man made any sort of announcement about possibly running for president, Glenn Beck is pretty sure that something nefarious is afoot.</p>
<p>Suggesting that Bush and Romney are somehow conspiring to undermine the Tea Party in the GOP presidential primary, Beck warned on his radio program today that "there is something really wrong in Utah."</p>
<p>"There is something really, really wrong," he said. "Remember, it was the Mormons, the two Mormons Smoot [and] Hawley, they were two Mormons that brought us the Smoot-Hawley Act which brought us the Great Depression."</p>
<p>"Sometimes their theology can go and mix with politics and go wildly wrong!" <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqOep-X5MiM">Beck said</a>. "When Mormons go bad, they go really bad. They go socialist. They go socialist. They mix the Gospel with government."</p>
<p align="center"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.pfaw.org//www.youtube.com/embed/AqOep-X5MiM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Gee, where have we heard a Mormon <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-bible-tells-us-everything-were-supposed-know-about-politics">explicitly say</a> that America needs to mix the Gospel with government before?</p>
<p align="center"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.pfaw.org//www.youtube.com/embed/lpXlBG8RUE0?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
Kyle MantylaElection 2016Jeb BushMitt RomneyUtahC3Glenn BeckFighting the Right49571Thu, 22 Jan 2015 15:20:15 -0500Mitt RomneyBeware The Gay Antichrist! The Seven Most Appalling Moments In Values Voter Summit Historyhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beware-gay-antichrist-seven-most-appalling-moments-values-voter-summit-history
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Every year since 2006, Republican leaders have joined some of the country&rsquo;s most notorious anti-gay, anti-choice activists and fringe conspiracy theorists at the Family Research Council&rsquo;s annual Values Voter Summit.</div>
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This week&rsquo;s summit will be no different, as potential GOP presidential contenders rub elbows with people who want to <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gops-hate-summit-who-s-who-2014-values-voter-summit">deny First Amendment protections to Muslims, defend laws criminalizing homosexuality, and think President Obama used the health care reform law to raise a private army of Brownshirts</a>.</div>
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Don&rsquo;t be surprised if summit speakers venture off into the deep-end of the right-wing fringe this week. Far from anomalies, intolerant rhetoric, self-serving claims of persecution and doomsday predictions are a Values Voter Summit tradition.</div>
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Here, we&rsquo;ve collected seven of the worst moments from previous Values Voter Summits.</div>
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<strong>1.</strong> <strong> </strong> <strong>The Antichrist Will Be Gay</strong></div>
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The Values Voter Summit is often an educational affair, and one thing we learned at the 2006 conference is that <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/values-voter-summit-anti-christ-gay" target="_blank">the Antichrist will be gay</a>. Right-wing pastor Dwight McKissic <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/values-voter-summit-anti-christ-gay" target="_blank">told the VVS audience</a> that year that the gay rights movement is a &ldquo;Satanic&rdquo; effort birthed &ldquo;from the pit of Hell itself,&rdquo; before suggesting that &ldquo;<a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/november-2006-church-state/featured/is-the-antichrist-gay" target="_blank">the Antichrist himself may be homosexual</a>.&rdquo;</div>
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&ldquo;The gay rights movement, I believe, was birthed and inspired by the Antichrist,&rdquo; McKissic <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/november-2006-church-state/featured/is-the-antichrist-gay" target="_blank">added</a>, while conservative pastor and co-panelist Wellington Boone lamented that it is no longer socially acceptable to call people &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/values-voter-summit-gay-bashing-bishop" target="_blank">faggots</a>.&rdquo;</div>
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This helped launch a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/values-voter-summit-anti-gay-activists-warn-repression-religion" target="_blank">long</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rios-gays-and-lesbians-caught-powerful-web-deceit" target="_blank">tradition</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/values-voter-summit-huckabee-feints-positive-message-shoots-far-right" target="_blank">of</a> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-homosexual-agenda-americas-greatest-immediate-threat">Values Voter Summit&nbsp;attacks</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/star-parker-gays-forcing-christians-closet" target="_blank">on</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bomberger-gays-kleptomaniacs-homophobia-myth" target="_blank">the</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/values-voter-summit-war-forces-darkness" target="_blank">LGBT</a> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/vvs-double-whammy-smearing-gay-soldiers-and-us-allies" target="_blank">community</a>.</div>
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<strong>2.</strong> <strong> </strong> <strong>Hillary Clinton Will Imprison Christians, &lsquo;Shut Down&rsquo; Churches</strong></div>
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Remember when Hillary Clinton destroyed the Constitution, closed churches and put all Christians in jail? No? Well, 2012 speaker Kamal Saleem predicted that by the end of her term as secretary of state, Clinton would &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kamal-saleem-tells-values-voter-summit-clinton-plans-shut-down-churches-college-professors-w" target="_blank">subjugate American people to be arrested and put to jail and their churches and synagogues shut down</a>.&rdquo;</div>
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Saleem has made a career as a phony ex-terrorist who converted to Christianity, and has&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kamal-saleem-shadow-government-obama-babysitter" target="_blank">concocted</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/saleem-generals-destroy-united-states-obama-legalize-terrorism" target="_blank">several</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kamal-saleem-uncovers-plot-use-roe-v-wade-bring-sharia-law" target="_blank">other</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/saleem-terrorism-will-be-legal-immigration-reform-wearing-ragheads" target="_blank">insane</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kamal-saleem-obama-wants-isis-bomb-america-so-he-can-seize-power" target="_blank">conspiracy</a> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kamal-saleem-obama-attended-dc-mosque-christmas-while-vacationing-hawaii" target="_blank">theories</a>.</div>
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<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G-wTttYxEpw" width="520"></iframe></p>
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Of course, the Values Voter Summit regularly features warnings that the <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/jim-bob-duggar-compares-us-nazi-germany-during-holocaust" target="_blank"> U.S. has morphed into Nazi Germany </a> and <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-self-victimization-full-force-values-voter-summit-fear-christian-concentrati" target="_blank"> will establish concentration camps for Christians</a>.</div>
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<strong>3.</strong> <strong> </strong> <strong>Mormonism Meltdown</strong></div>
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On one rare occasion, even a Republican politician couldn&rsquo;t ignore the rank bigotry that takes place at the Values Voter Summit.</div>
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In 2011, televangelist Robert Jeffress, who introduced then-presidential candidate Rick Perry at the summit, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/jeffress-vote-perry-because-romney-not-true-christian" target="_blank"> blasted Mitt Romney in a post-speech interview as a cult member and fake Christian</a>, comments thatcame as no surprise since Jeffress had railed against the Mormon faith and Romney in previous speeches.</div>
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Romney, incidentally, was set to speak that year immediately prior to American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer, who is notorious for his incendiary comments about gays and lesbians, immigrants, African Americans, Native Americans, Muslims and, yes, Mormons. During his speech, Romney criticized Fischer&rsquo;s &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/romney-calls-out-bryan-fischers-bigotry" target="_blank">poisonous language</a>,&rdquo; prompting Fischer to <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/10/08/339618/romney-condemns-bryan-fishers-hate-speech-at-values-voter-summit/" target="_blank"> lash back at Romney</a>. Romney ally Bill Bennett also jumped in, criticizing Jeffress for promoting &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-homosexual-agenda-americas-greatest-immediate-threat" target="_blank">bigotry</a>&rdquo; while Perry went back and forth between ignoring the controversy and eventually distancing himself from Jeffress.</div>
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While Romney may have spoken out against Fischer during the summit, Fischer had the last laugh as he&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-romney-stand-up-to-north-korea-pushed-around-yokel-like-me" target="_blank">succeeded</a> in his&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fischer-grenell-resignation-huge-win-religious-right" target="_blank">campaign</a> to <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bryan-fischer-launches-attack-romney-campaigns-gay-spokesman" target="_blank">oust</a> a gay official from Romney&rsquo;s presidential campaign.</div>
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That wasn&rsquo;t the last time we would see infighting at the Values Voter Summit. Last year, Rep. Louie Gohmert <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gohmert-mccain-supports-al-qaeda" target="_blank">accused Sen. John McCain of supporting Al Qaeda</a>, to which McCain <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mccain-gohmert-has-no-intelligence" target="_blank">responded</a>: &ldquo;Sometimes comments like that are made out of malice, but if someone has no intelligence I don't feel it as being a malicious statement.&rdquo;</div>
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<strong>4.</strong> <strong> </strong> <strong>Demand Abortions Be Performed In Public</strong></div>
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Lila Rose, the anti-choice activist known for her campaigns against Planned Parenthood, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/respect-women-vvs-style" target="_blank">had a modest proposal at the 2009 summit</a>: &ldquo;If I could insist, as long as they are legal in our nation, abortions will be done in the public square.&rdquo;</div>
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Rose, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/lila-rose-likens-her-anti-abortion-activism-malala-yousafzai" target="_blank"> who sees herself as the Malala Yousafzai of America</a>, said that mandatory public abortions are necessary so we can &ldquo;hear angels singing when we ponder the glory of conception.&rdquo;</div>
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<div>
Many other Values Voter Summit speakers have also <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/parker-gay-people-and-enemies-god-should-keep-it-private">shared</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/parker-hhs-mandate-has-made-sandra-fluke-national-icon-sexual-promiscuity" target="_blank">memorable</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bauer-praising-promiscuous-co-ed-sandra-fluke-sign-civilization-decline" target="_blank">messages</a> for the women of America.</div>
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<p align="center"><object height="315" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hyyXQtQBKBw&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hyyXQtQBKBw&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500"></embed></object></p>
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<strong>5.</strong> <strong> </strong> <strong>Perkins Mocks Gay Soldiers</strong></div>
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<div>
At the 2010 summit, in the midst of the fight over the repeal of Don&rsquo;t Ask, Don&rsquo;t Tell, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins warned that if the ban on openly gay service members was lifted, then the U.S. military would become nothing but a parade-marching force.</div>
<div>
&nbsp;</div>
<div>
Speaking on a panel with Bob Maginnis, FRC&rsquo;s senior fellow for national security, Perkins said that militaries that allow openly gay members &mdash; which by that time included Israel and NATO allies such as Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany &mdash; are the &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/vvs-double-whammy-smearing-gay-soldiers-and-us-allies" target="_blank">ones that participate in parades, they don't fight wars to keep the nation and the world free</a>.&rdquo;</div>
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<div>
Maginnis also predicted, wrongly,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bs-dadt" target="_blank">that military chaplains would be forced to perform same-sex weddings</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhM4kb21zSw" target="_blank">made fun of transgender service members</a>.</div>
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<div>
<strong>6.</strong> <strong> </strong> <strong>A Bigger Crown In Heaven</strong></div>
<div>
&nbsp;</div>
<div>
Miss USA contestant Carrie Prejean told the 2009 conference that while she may have lost the beauty competition, which she said was a result of her answer to a question about gay marriage, she knew &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/carrie-prejean-speaks-values-voter-summit" target="_blank">that the Lord has so much of a bigger crown in Heaven for me</a>.&rdquo;</div>
<div>
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<div>
In fact, she said, the &ldquo;vicious&rdquo; reaction she received following the pageant was one of worst incidents of persecution in American history.</div>
<div>
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<div>
Prejean later sued Miss USA for discrimination but settled the case for legal fees after a <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/carrie-prejean-miss-usa-pageant-lawsuit-sex-tape/story?id=9005288" target="_blank">sex tape</a> she had made materialized.</div>
<div>
&nbsp;</div>
<p align="center"><object height="315" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/B2Rp0B_s7q4&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/B2Rp0B_s7q4&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500"></embed></object></p>
<div>
&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<strong>7.</strong> <strong> </strong> <strong>Obamacare 'Is The Worst Thing That Has Happened In This Nation Since Slavery'</strong></div>
<div>
&nbsp;</div>
<div>
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Values Voter Summit speakers have been in a fierce competition to see who can come up with the most insane reaction to the law. Michele Bachmann pilloried the health law as &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bachmann-obamas-health-care-law-will-be-known-deathcare" target="_blank">DeathCare</a>,&rdquo; Ken Cuccinelli blasted it as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-fBVtFv8No" target="_blank">&ldquo;the greatest erosion of liberty&rdquo; in modern history</a> and Rick Santorum <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/santorum-contraception-mandate-descendant-french-revolution" target="_blank"> linked it to the French Revolution</a>.</div>
<div>
&nbsp;</div>
<div>
But Ben Carson outdid them all, telling the conference last year that &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/carson-obamacare-worst-thing-happen-nation-slavery" target="_blank">Obamacare is really, I think, the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery, and it is slavery in a way</a>.&rdquo;</div>
<div>
&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.pfaw.org//www.youtube.com/embed/Vda3AbXNbBA" width="520"></iframe></p>
</div>
<div>
After all this, it is no wonder that Santorum told the Values Voter Summit in 2012 that &ldquo;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/santorum-we-will-never-have-elite-smart-people-our-side" target="_blank">we will never have the elite, smart people on our side</a>.&rdquo;</div>
Brian TashmanBen CarsonC4Kamal SaleemLila RoseLouie Gohmert Mitt RomneyRick Perry Robert Jeffress Tony Perkins Values Voter SummitWellington Boone Dwight McKissic Family Research CouncilFighting the RightBryan FischerCarrie Prejean48414Tue, 23 Sep 2014 12:20:30 -0500Mitt RomneyRick Perry And Right Wing Relationship Problems?http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rick-perry-and-right-wing-relationship-problems
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_images/rick_perry_a.jpg?1360090923" />
<p>Texas Gov. Rick Perry ran his campaigns for governor in <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rick-perrys-long-history-attending-nonpolitical-religious-right-events">close alliance</a> with <a href="http://www.pfaw.org/media-center/publications/patriot-pastors-electoral-war-against-hordes-hell#patriotpastors">Religious Right leaders</a> in the state, and he launched his 2012 presidential bid with a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-montgomery/perry-prayer-politics-and_b_922086.html">prayer rally</a> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fact-sheet-gov-rick-perry%E2%80%99s-extremist-allies">organized by dominionist leaders</a>. All that makes it a bit surprising that the &ldquo;Take Back America&rdquo; <a href="https://www.rickpac.org/take-back-america-survey/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=na&utm_campaign=20140903_Rick-Perry-Rop_email-na&utm_content=body_text_takeback">survey</a> sent out by Perry&rsquo;s political action committee <a href="https://www.rickpac.org/mission-statement/">RickPAC</a> today does not ask about abortion, gay rights, or religious liberty, the big three of Religious Right groups&rsquo; organizing and fundraising efforts.</p>
<p>The email from Perry says &ldquo;RickPAC is dedicated to electing conservatives who will work to secure our nation&rsquo;s border, reduce the debt for future generations, and &ndash; unlike so many in Washington &ndash; focus on achieving results.&rdquo; The survey asks recipients to choose &ldquo;the top three issues that you believe are most important to people in your community.&rdquo; The options given are:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Taxes</li>
<li>
Securing our border</li>
<li>
Economy & Jobs</li>
<li>
Military & Veteran Affairs</li>
<li>
Government spending</li>
<li>
2<sup>nd</sup> Amendment Rights</li>
<li>
Healthcare & Obamacare costs</li>
</ul>
<p>A second question asks whether unemployment, high taxes, the cost of health care, or something else is the most important economic issue facing America today. Rounding out the survey are two yes-or-no questions asking whether low taxes promote economic growth and whether electing conservative candidates is important to getting America back on track.</p>
<p>The survey may reflect Perry strategists&rsquo; belief that potential donors to his PAC are more motivated by Tea Party issues than traditional social issues &ndash; as well as the fact that some <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/christian-reconstructionism-and-gop-biblical-justice-vs-social-justice">Religious Right leaders and GOP strategists</a> have been <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-will-cheer-tea-party-extremism-values-voter-summit">working</a> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/war-and-peace-tea-party-and-gop">hard</a> to <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/150622/tea_party_jesus%3A_koch's_americans_for_prosperity_sidles_up_to_religious_right_for_2012_campaign">convince</a> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/james-robison-prays-miracle-uniting-tea-party-and-religious-right-activists">conservative evangelicals</a> that lower taxes and small government are <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/fracking-sugar-daddy-religious-right">religious issues</a> just like opposition to abortion and gay rights.</p>
<p>Perry may have a hard time mobilizing supporters for a second presidential bid, and not only because fellow Texan Ted Cruz is now a hero to right-wing activists. In the Washington Times on Monday, <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/1/deace-rick-perry-could-get-rick-rolled-again/?page=1">right-wing columnist Steve Deace slammed Perry</a> in a column that began, &ldquo;Hey, did you hear about the Republican governor running for president in 2016 who just hired two of the GOP consultants conservatives loathe the most?&rdquo;</p>
<p>Deace said conservatives have been giving the &ldquo;new&rdquo; Rick Perry a second look, and were liking what they saw. But he says Perry has blown it by hiring Henry Barbour and Steven Schmidt, two consultants he says &ldquo;rank in the top two of just about every grassroots conservative&rsquo;s excrement list.&rdquo; Deace quotes Richard Viguerie saying recently that &ldquo;Governor Perry&rsquo;s friends are the enemies of conservatives.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Deace faults Barbour for using &ldquo;despicable Obama/Alinsky type&rdquo; tactics in helping Thad Cochran beat Tea Party favorite Chris McDaniel in a hotly contested Senate primary. And he slams Schmidt for criticizing Tea Party &ldquo;kooks&rdquo; and for working to get Republicans to endorse marriage equality.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;That means Mr. Perry, who began his 2012 presidential campaign with a national call to repentance (from sin) and the backing of several Christian conservative leaders, is now taking counsel from a guy that wants to celebrate what Christians believe to be immoral.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Speaking of 2012, there&rsquo;s some fine print at the bottom of the RickPAC email:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This email was sent by: Romney for President Inc., 138 Conant St., 1st Floor, Beverly, MA 01915.<br />
<br />
This message reflects the opinions and representations of RickPAC, Inc., and is not an endorsement by Mitt Romney.&nbsp;You are receiving this email because you signed up as a member of Mitt Romney's online community &hellip;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
Peter MontgomeryChris McDanielC4Election 2016Henry BarbourMitt RomneyRichard Viguerie Rick Perry RickPACSteve Deacesteve schmidtTed CruzTexasThad CochranFighting the Right48153Wed, 03 Sep 2014 16:18:27 -0500Mitt RomneyGlenn Beck Now Says He's 'Embarrassed' That He Voted For Mitt Romneyhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/glenn-beck-now-says-hes-embarrassed-he-voted-mitt-romney
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_images/glenn_beck_3_a.jpg?1379517629" />
<p>As we <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/now-glenn-beck-dismissing-romney-just-another-progressive">noted earlier this month</a>, Glenn Beck has completely turned against Mitt Romney, claiming that he was nothing more than a progressive as he now asserts that he only voted for him because he had no other option.</p>
<p>On his radio program today, Beck and his co-hosts were declaring that never again will they support a Republican presidential nominee that they don't agree with simply because they dislike that candidate less than the Democratic candidate, saying they've had to do so with every GOP nominee since Ronald Reagan, including Mitt Romney.</p>
<p>Beck said that while he is not embarrassed to have voted for Romney "because of the decorum that he would have brought back" to the Oval Office, he is "embarrassed that that's what I cast my vote for because I'm convinced he would have been going into Syria at this point."</p>
<p>He went on <a href="http://www.video.theblaze.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=30870071">to declare</a>, 2:00 minutes in, that Romney would have "really let us down" because he would have refused to repeal President Obama's health care reform "even though he ran on it":</p>
<p align="center"><iframe frameborder="0" height="224" src="http://www.video.theblaze.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=30870071&width=400&height=224&property=theblaze" width="400">Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe></p>
<p>Let us point out that during the campaign, Beck spent every day telling his audience that Romney was a modern-day George Washington and Abraham Lincoln:</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.pfaw.org//www.youtube.com/embed/YBn2CD2D5Ig" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.pfaw.org//www.youtube.com/embed/Aw04ytGdr9E" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>If Glenn Beck had any credibility left, this absurdly self-serving rewriting of his passionate support for Mitt Romney would have probably destroyed it for good.</p>
Kyle MantylaMitt RomneyC3Glenn BeckFighting the Right44339Mon, 23 Sep 2013 13:37:53 -0500Mitt RomneyNow Glenn Beck Is Dismissing Romney As Just Another 'Progressive'http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/now-glenn-beck-dismissing-romney-just-another-progressive
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_images/glenn_beck_a_0.jpg?1349206778" />
<p>On his radio broadcast this morning, Glenn Beck told some story about how, last week, he had rescued a lost sheep that had disappeared from his ranch over a year ago and, in typical Beck fashion, he saw it as some sort of allegory for the nation about how God allowed President Obama to win in order to ensure that the Tea Party remains awake and saves the nation and ultimately rescues all the "lost sheep" in America and blah, blah, blah.</p>
<p>While telling the story, Beck made an absolutely remarkable statement in passing when, <a href="http://www.video.theblaze.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=30544533">around the 3:45 mark</a>, he speculated that if Mitt Romney had won the election, he too might be pressing for military action in Syria "because, in the end, we all found out that he was the progressive."</p>
<p align="center"><iframe frameborder="0" height="224" src="http://www.video.theblaze.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=30544533&width=400&height=224&property=theblaze" width="400">Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe></p>
<p>Just think about that statement.</p>
<p>During the campaign, Beck spent every day telling his audience that Romney's performance was <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-romneys-debate-performance-was-divine-providence">divine providence</a>, that his victory was going to be a <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-romneys-321-217-election-win-will-deliver-mandate-giant-spanking-obama">massive mandate</a> and <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-romney-victory-work-god">a work of God </a>and that Romney was a modern-day <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-romney-modern-day-george-washington-who-being-guided-god">George Washington</a> and <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-i-believe-mitt-romney-could-be-abraham-lincoln">Abraham Lincoln</a>:</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.pfaw.org//www.youtube.com/embed/YBn2CD2D5Ig" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.pfaw.org//www.youtube.com/embed/Aw04ytGdr9E" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>But now Beck is dismissing him as just another progressive.&nbsp;</p>
<p>If that is true, then why was Beck so enthralled with him during the election? Just where was Beck's self-proclaimed "<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/glenn-becks-bizarre-gift">gift</a>" for being able to look into someone eyes and see their heart or his vaunted ability to <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-im-chess-player">see down the road</a> and predict what will be coming our way?&nbsp;</p>
<p>Beck says Romney revealed himself to be a "progressive" during the final presidential debate, which took place on <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81467.html">October 22</a>.&nbsp; Yet two days after that, Beck was <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-romney-modern-day-george-washington-who-being-guided-god">comparing Romney to George Washington</a> on his radio broadcast.</p>
<p>If Beck knew that Romney was a "progressive" during the election, why didn't he warn his audience instead of repeatedly likening him to towering figures such as Washington and Lincoln?&nbsp;</p>
<p>We have an <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/glenn-beck-0">archive</a> full of examples of Glenn Beck saying utterly ridiculous things, but this current effort to rewrite his own history has to be one of the most fundamentally dishonest things he has ever said.</p>
Kyle MantylaMitt RomneyC3Glenn BeckFighting the Right44236Thu, 12 Sep 2013 14:03:05 -0500Mitt RomneyDavid Lane: Republican Presidential Hopefuls' Favorite 'Christian Nation' Extremisthttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/republican-presidential-hopefuls-favorite-christian-nation-extremist
<img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_astory" width="390" height="250" alt="" src="http://www.pfaw.org/sites/default/files/images/a_story_images/david_lane_a.jpg?1354722428" />
<p>Senators and presidential hopefuls Rand Paul and Ted Cruz will head to Iowa this week as featured speakers at a closed-door event for conservative pastors that has been organized by David Lane, an anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-Mormon, <a href="http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/sarahposner/5400/christian-only_prayer_rally_the_response_goes_to_early_primary_states/">Christian-nation absolutist</a> who has declared war, not only on secularism and separation of church and state, but also on establishment Republicans who don&rsquo;t embrace his vision of an America in which the Bible serves as <a href="http://www.gopaulrevere.com/2012/02/kingdom-of-god-will-not-arrive-on-air.html">&ldquo;the principle textbook&rdquo;</a> for public education and a &ldquo;Christian culture&rdquo; has been &ldquo;re-established.&rdquo; He decries Supreme Court rulings on prayer and Bible reading in public schools, and <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/indecency-sin-and-todays-whig-party/">says</a>, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easily defended that America was founded by Christians, as a Christian nation.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Cruz and Paul may be motivated by the fact that a similar David Lane-organized pastors briefing is <a href="http://americanindependent.com/195916/reclusive-evangelical-organizer-david-lane-bemoans-the-rise-of-secular-judges-media">credited</a> with Mike Huckabee&rsquo;s win in the 2008 Iowa caucus.&nbsp; Evangelical political strategist Doug Wead has <a href="http://swampland.time.com/2011/07/05/behind-the-scenes-christian-right-leaders-rally-behind-rick-perry/">described</a> Lane as &ldquo;the mysterious, behind the scenes, evangelical kingmaker who stormed into Iowa in 2008 and tilted the whole thing from Romney to Huckabee,&rdquo; even though subsequent renewal projects <a href="http://prospect.org/article/fundamentalist-no-18">failed</a> to deliver South Carolina and Florida to Huckabee.</p>
<p>Still, Lane, a <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/influential-religious-right-organizer-david-lane-admits-im-actually-political-operative">self-described</a> &ldquo;political operative,&rdquo; has plans that go well beyond Iowa.&nbsp; The &ldquo;Rediscovering God in America&rdquo; event scheduled for July 17 and 18 is just one of an ongoing series of pastors briefings that are central to the American Renewal Project&rsquo;s <a href="http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2013/02/25/exclusive-evangelical-pastors-ready-to-mobilize-for-2014-election-say.aspx">12-state strategy</a> to turn out conservative evangelical voters in the 2013-2014 election cycle.&nbsp; (Those states: Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, South Carolina, Alaska, Arkansas, North Carolina, Nevada, South Dakota, Virginia, and West Virginia.)&nbsp;</p>
<p>In December, Lane described his project&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/the-plan-to-put-bible-prayer-back-into-schools/#tUORii7sf3wylo5b.99">goal</a> this way: &ldquo;to engage the church in a culture war for religious liberty, to restore America to our Judeo-Christian heritage and to re-establish a Christian culture.&rdquo; And he has a clear message to representatives and senators: &ldquo;Vote to restore the Bible and prayer in public schools or be sent home. Hanging political scalps on the wall is the only love language politicians can hear.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Lane is abundantly clear about his belief that the choice facing America is a return to its founding as a Christian nation or a continued descent into what he describes as paganism. He <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/the-plan-to-put-bible-prayer-back-into-schools/#tUORii7sf3wylo5b.99">wrote</a> &nbsp;in December:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">America was a Christian nation. The Mayflower Compact declared, &ldquo;In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, having undertaken &ndash; for the glory of God, and the advancement of the Christian faith&hellip;&rdquo;</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Let&rsquo;s decide if America is a Christian nation or a pagan nation &ndash; and get on with it; the sooner the better.</p>
<p>Lane <a href="http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2013/02/25/exclusive-evangelical-pastors-ready-to-mobilize-for-2014-election-say.aspx">told</a> the Christian Broadcasting Network&rsquo;s David Brody that &ldquo;America has left God&rdquo; and that &ldquo;unrighteousness&rdquo; is &ldquo;the greatest threat to freedom.&rdquo; Brody says Lane &ldquo;believes it&rsquo;s time to remove politicians from office who have led America down this immoral and unsustainable broken path.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p><u>A Christian-Nation Warrior <em>Within</em> the GOP</u></p>
<p>To be fair to Paul and Cruz, they are only the latest Republican presidential hopefuls who have allied themselves with the zealous David Lane in order to tap his network of politically engaged pastors. Lane has been holding &ldquo;pastors briefings&rdquo; in <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/news/columnists/wayne-slater/20130606-wayne-slater-ted-cruz-headed-to-iowa-to-speak-with-influential-conservative-pastors.ece">15 states</a> since the mid-1990s. He <a href="http://www.gopaulrevere.com/2012/02/kingdom-of-god-will-not-arrive-on-air.html">wrote</a> last year that state Restoration and Renewal projects had hosted more than 10,000 pastors and spouses in ten states since 2005 alone, in events that have been used to engage pastors in anti-gay initiative battles and introduce them to politicians favored by Lane. Pastors&rsquo; expenses are covered with money from the American Family Association and other religious right mega-donors. The American Renewal Project operates as a project of the AFA; Lane also operates the California-based Pastors and Pews.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Texas Governor Rick Perry is also <a href="http://www.ktrh.com/articles/houston-news-121300/two-texas-politicians-take-a-trip-11371054/">reportedly</a> scheduled to participate in this week&rsquo;s Iowa gathering, which may confirm his apparent interest in another run for the presidency. &nbsp;Perry has a long-term relationship with Lane.&nbsp; In 2005 and 2006, Lane and his network played a huge role in mobilizing support for Perry&rsquo;s re-election as governor. Six pastors briefings were held around the state, and all six were <a href="http://www.tfn.org/site/DocServer/SORR_06_ReportWEB.pdf?docID=222">addressed</a> by Perry. &nbsp;As Governor, Perry hasn&rsquo;t disappointed Lane and his friends.</p>
<p>Heading into the 2012 election cycle, Mike Huckabee, Michele Bachmann, Haley Barbour, and Newt Gingrich <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2011/03/279333/">spoke</a> to 600 pastors, ministry leaders and spouses at a March 2011 Iowa Renewal Project Pastor&rsquo;s Policy Briefing. But as the primaries approached, Lane was not satisfied with the field. He played a key role in organizing conservative religious leaders to push Perry into the presidential race.&nbsp; And he masterminded and served as national finance chair for <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/topics/the-response-prayer-rally">&ldquo;The Response&rdquo;</a>, an August 2011 prayer rally that served as Perry&rsquo;s unofficial campaign launch.</p>
<p>Lane enthusiastically applauded <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/jeffress-god-will-judge-america-electing-mormon-president">anti-Mormon attacks</a> on Mitt Romney made by Perry backer Robert Jeffress at the Values Voter Summit in October 2011.&nbsp; The Daily Beast <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/16/rick-perry-camp-s-anti-mormon-message.html">revealed</a> emails between Lane and religious broadcaster Dick Bott in which Lane praised Jeffress, saying the message &ldquo;juxtaposing traditional Christianity to the false god of Mormonism, is very important in the larger scheme of things.&rdquo;</p>
<p>After Perry&rsquo;s candidacy imploded, Religious Right leaders split between Gingrich and Santorum, dooming last-ditch efforts to prevent Romney from becoming the GOP nominee.&nbsp; Lane backed Gingrich.&nbsp; He <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/25/gingrich-makes-pitch-florida-evangelical-vote/?page=all">organized</a> a conference call in Florida in late January 2012 to which he said he invited some 125,000 Florida evangelicals, including 2,400 pastors; the call reportedly had 1,000 participants and a recording was emailed to the other 124,000. But obviously he failed to prevent Romney from becoming the nominee.</p>
<p>During the flap over Perry backers&rsquo; attacks on Romney&rsquo;s Mormonism, Lane had actually told broadcaster Bott that he would sit out the 2012 elections rather than vote for Romney. But whether or not Lane actually cast his personal vote for Romney, he continued mobilizing conservative Christians in an effort to defeat Barack Obama.&nbsp; In Ohio, for example, Lane was part of a major effort by Republican evangelicals to put Romney over the top in that state.&nbsp; Lane organized &ldquo;several glitzy mass rallies for the state&rsquo;s churchgoers featuring high-profile religious and political leaders,&rdquo; the <em>Washington Times</em> <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/5/top-ohio-evangelicals-confident-pro-romney-surge-2/?page=all">reported</a> last November. Lane and Ralph Reed each produced voter guides for &ldquo;Ohio&rsquo;s faithful.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Although Perry&rsquo;s tanking disrupted Lane&rsquo;s plans to get conservative evangelicals to coalesce around a single candidate in 2012, it seems clear that he has similar intentions for 2016. He <a href="http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2013/06/is-it-2016-yet-ted-cruz-planning-first-political-visit-to-iowa/">told</a> the Houston Chronicle in June, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to try to eliminate the stuff that they [GOP leaders] do to us every four years, which is picking somebody who has no chance of being viable and they kill us off and we have the McCains and Romneys left.&rdquo;</p>
<p><u>At War <em>With</em> the GOP</u></p>
<p>Lane&rsquo;s comment about &ldquo;the McCains and Romneys&rdquo; is just the tip of the iceberg of <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/indecency-sin-and-todays-whig-party/">contempt</a> that he has for what he sees as a cowardly, compromising Republican establishment. He denounces moderate Republicans who are &ldquo;bound and determined to deposit homosexuality &ndash; and homosexual marriage &ndash; into the Grand Old Party.&rdquo; And he insists, &ldquo;Those doing this to our country must be removed from office and from leadership.&rdquo; (These aren&rsquo;t necessarily idle threats: Lane was at the center of the successful 2010 campaign to remove from office three Iowa Supreme Court justices who had been part of a unanimous ruling in favor of marriage equality. &ldquo;Lane <a href="http://washingtonindependent.com/112512/reclusive-evangelical-organizer-david-lane-bemoans-the-rise-of-secular-judges-media">called</a> the judges &ldquo;Judicial Gods&rdquo; who believe they have the &ldquo;right to rule a free people&rdquo; and &ldquo;impose their will&rdquo; however they see fit.&rdquo;)</p>
<p>Lane was <a href="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/23/conservative-christians-rally-around-akin-in-face-of-gop-criticism/?hpt=hp_t2">outraged</a> last year when many Republican Party leaders abandoned Senate candidate Todd Akin in the wake of his infamous comments about &ldquo;legitimate rape&rdquo;&mdash; Lane was especially indignant because at the same time the GOP was backing openly gay Senate candidate Richard Tisei in Massachusetts. &nbsp;Lane mobilized support for Akin among conservative pastors and <a href="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/23/conservative-christians-rally-around-akin-in-face-of-gop-criticism/?hpt=hp_t2">complained</a> loudly about the GOP. &ldquo;Following the pounding of Todd Akin by the GOP kings and lieutenants in the last 36 hours, I&rsquo;ve come to the conclusion that the real issue is the soul of America,&rdquo; he wrote in an email to activists. In October, almost 400 pastors who had gathered for a Pastors&rsquo; Policy Briefing in Missouri <a href="http://www.bottradionetwork.com/network-events/photo-gallery/album/72157631629006384/photo/8027017873/September-2012--Missouri-Renewal-Project--Bott-Radio-Network-Present-Rediscovering-God-In-America-at-Renaissance-Grand-Hotel-In-St-Louis-Monday--Tuesday-September-24th--25th-.html">prayed over Akin</a>, whose cause Lane <a href="http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/sarahposner/6489/akin_revival/">said</a> was &ldquo;the opening battle for the soul of the Republican Party.&rdquo; After all, he <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/evangelicals-have-a-big-decision-to-make/">argues</a>, &ldquo;someone&rsquo;s values must reign supreme.&rdquo;</p>
<p>After the 2012 elections, Lane <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/evangelicals-have-a-big-decision-to-make/#qtMorztWdOsKCLQ6.99">drew his battle lines:</a></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">The moderate GOP chieftains and lieutenants&rsquo; philosophy of government and set of values &ndash; in the long run &ndash; are incompatible with Christian morality and principles. As these secular &ldquo;pastors&rdquo; &ndash; the GOP chieftains and lieutenants &ndash; seek to bully and dictate their worldly, amoral ethics &ndash; according to their importance, omnipotence and power of the purse &ndash; there can be no amicability and meeting of minds&hellip;.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Christian conservatives are coming to their moment of truth within the Republican Party. Be friendly and disarm, or annoy and aggravate the GOP kings and lieutenants by laying down the law on Christian principles and Christian values.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">&hellip;.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Another way to put it is: I don&rsquo;t think that &ldquo;restoring America&rdquo; is a Christian imperative. Being a witnesses [sic] to the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the imperative. If that restores America, wonderful; if it means that America collapses &ndash; like Rome &ndash; the byproduct of the Permanent Republican Majority or a decadent, sinful, immoral culture and people, the church is God&rsquo;s permanent &ldquo;nation.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Lane writes that after launching a public fight for putting the Bible, Jesus, the Ten Commandments back into public schools, &ldquo;then we will watch Providence call for &lsquo;punishment executed by angels&lsquo; to those who oppose His word.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Lane says he believes there is &ldquo;good news in the current Republican collapse and failure &ndash; brought about as a byproduct of the amoral, empty philosophy of the Permanent Republican majority&rdquo; &ndash; and that is a political opening for evangelicals. In February, Christian Broadcasting Network&rsquo;s David Brody <a href="http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2013/02/25/exclusive-evangelical-pastors-ready-to-mobilize-for-2014-election-say.aspx">said</a> that Lane&rsquo;s battle against Republicans who are more worried about the party than &ldquo;sustaining a moral and righteous nation&rdquo; is &ldquo;the next confrontation to watch.&rdquo;</p>
<p><u>Pastors as Cause of and Solution to America&rsquo;s Descent into Hell</u></p>
<p>It is a recurring theme at Religious Right gatherings that the real reason for America&rsquo;s slide from greatness into moral decay is that its preachers aren&rsquo;t preaching aggressively enough. Lane is also in this camp. The relatively media-shy Lane <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/us/politics/03pastor.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&">told</a> the <em>New York Times </em>in 2011, &ldquo;From my perspective, our country is going to hell because pastors won&rsquo;t lead from the pulpits.&rdquo;</p>
<p>He <a href="http://www.christianresponsealerts.com/2012/09/the-godless-democrats/">complains</a> that the &ldquo;the Church didn&rsquo;t even shudder when the Bible, prayer, Jesus, and the Ten Commandments were removed from the public schools in 1963.&rdquo; And he <a href="http://www.christianresponsealerts.com/2012/09/the-godless-democrats/">says</a> there was &ldquo;not a peep from the Christian Church&rdquo; in response to the <em>Roe v. Wade</em> decision in 1973, when the church &ldquo;should have initiated riots, revolution, and repentance.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Lane is fond of <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/the-plan-to-put-bible-prayer-back-into-schools/#tUORii7sf3wylo5b.99">quoting</a> Peter Leithart&rsquo;s <em>Between Babel and Beast</em>. Last fall he included this segment in one of his frequently repetitive online commentaries:&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">American churches have too long discipled Christians in Americanism, and that makes Christian involvement in the American polity far smoother than it ought to be. Churches must repent of our Americanism and begin to cultivate martyrs&mdash;believers who are martyrs in the original sense of &lsquo;witness&rsquo; and in the later sense of men and women ready to follow the Lamb all the way to an imperial cross.</p>
<p>In a different commentary, this one for WND, Lane also <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/the-plan-to-put-bible-prayer-back-into-schools/#tUORii7sf3wylo5b.99">quotes</a> from <em>Between Babel and Beast</em>:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Until American churches actually function as outposts of Jesus&rsquo; heavenly empire rather than as cheerleaders for America &ndash; until the churches produce martyrs rather than patriots &ndash; the political witness of Christians will continue to be diluted and co-opted.</p>
<p>Lane also quotes Leithart in a June 2013 commentary that seemed to be too much even for the virulent WND, which has removed the post. Here&rsquo;s part of the Leithart he approvingly quotes:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Americanists cannot break Babelic or bestial power because they cannot distinguish heretical Americanism from Christian orthodoxy. Until we do, America will lurch along the path that leads from Babel to Beast. If America is to be put in its place &ndash; put right &ndash; Christians must risk martyrdom and force Babel to the crux where it has to decide either to acknowledge Jesus [as] imperator and the church as God&rsquo;s imperium or to begin drinking holy blood.</p>
<p>To that bracing section Lane adds his own words:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Where are the champions of Christ to save the nation from the pagan onslaught imposing homosexual marriage, homosexual scouts, 60 million babies done to death by abortion and red ink as far as the eye can see on America? Who will wage war for the Soul of America and trust the living God to deliver the pagan gods into our hands and restore America to her Judeo-Christian heritage and re-establish a Christian culture?...</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">As to the future of America &ndash; and the collapse of this once-Christian nation &ndash; Christians must not only be allowed to have opinions, but politically, Christians must be retrained to war for the Soul of America and quit believing the fabricated whopper of the &lsquo;Separation of Church and State,&rdquo; the lie repeated ad nauseum by the left and liberals to keep Christian America &ndash; the moral majority &ndash; from imposing moral government on pagan public schools, pagan higher learning, and pagan media&hellip;.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Christian America is in ruins&hellip;</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">You ask, &ldquo;What is our goal?&rdquo; To wage war to restore America to our Judeo-Christian heritage with all of our might and strength that God will give us. You ask, &ldquo;what is our aim?&rdquo; One word only: victory, in spite of all intimidation and terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory, America will ultimately collapse.</p>
<p>He sees the solution as the political organizing he does among pastors.&nbsp; &ldquo;Bible-believing pastor,&rdquo; he <a href="http://www.christianresponsealerts.com/2012/09/the-godless-democrats/">wrote</a> last fall, &ldquo;without overstating it, the survival of America is on your shoulders.&rdquo; According to the <em>New York Times</em>, at a 2011 briefing in Iowa Mike Huckabee &ldquo;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/us/politics/03pastor.html?pagewanted=all">lavished</a> praise on Mr. Lane for &lsquo;bringing pastors together so they go back to their pulpits and light them on fire with enthusiasm, to make America once again the greatest country on earth under God.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<p>Lane&rsquo;s increasingly war-like rhetoric has given people pause. Lane frequently closes his commentaries &ndash; including the one recently pulled from WND -- with the question, &ldquo;Will a Gideon or Rahab the Harlot please stand.&rdquo; In the Old Testament, Gideon is called by God to defeat the armies of enemies of the Israelites and end the worship of false gods. Rahab the Harlot is another Old Testament character: she enabled the Israelites&rsquo; conquest of the city of Jericho by helping two spies sent into the city by Joshua. She and her family were the only ones spared when the city was destroyed and every other man, woman and child was killed. Politicians who stand with Lane might consider asking him just what he means by his frequently repeated calls for a Gideon or Rahab to stand up among American evangelicals.</p>
<p><u>This IS the Religious Right &ndash; and the GOP&rsquo;s Dominant Right Wing</u></p>
<p>Sadly, Lane&rsquo;s extremist views and rhetoric do not make him much of an outlier among today&rsquo;s hard-right political figures. He is closely allied with major Religious Right leaders and has no problem attracting current and former members of Congress and Republican presidential aspirants to his closed-door gatherings.&nbsp; Among those scheduled to take part in this week&rsquo;s Iowa event are Christian-nation &ldquo;historian&rdquo; <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/david-barton">David Barton</a>, Liberty Counsel&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/mat-staver">Mat Staver</a>, and the American Family Association&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/don-wildmon">Don Wildmon</a>.&nbsp; In 2010, Lane joined Barton and anti-gay activist <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/jim-garlow">Jim Garlow</a>, and Lane offered a 12-day, $4000, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/you-can-spend-4000-and-twelve-days-helping-bring-about-next-great-awakening">Next Great Awakening Tour</a> of historical sites in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington.</p>
<p>Also part of this week&rsquo;s program in Iowa is Lane&rsquo;s friend Laurence White, who <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/dobson-broadcasts-sermon-america-imminent-destruction#sthash.C7vPAktt.dpuf">says</a> &ldquo;if we do not stop abortion then God will destroy and God should destroy America.&rdquo; Another participant is Ken Canfield, who <a href="http://catholicfire.blogspot.com/2006/07/ken-canfield-christian-alternative-to.html">ran</a> for Governor of Kansas in 2006 on a platform calling for a &ldquo;no exceptions&rdquo; ban on abortion; he came in second in a crowded GOP primary .</p>
<p>Lane, like other Religious Right leaders, sees the acceptance of homosexuality as a sign that America has turned its back on God. In one column he approvingly <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/indecency-sin-and-todays-whig-party/">cites</a> an author who describes gays and lesbians as &ldquo;parasites, depending for their cultural survival on couples that birth the next generation.&rdquo; Last summer he asked pastors to &ldquo;exhort the flock, entrusted to you by the Living God, to refrain from shopping at Target Stores until its leadership ends pushing homosexual marriage in America.&rdquo;</p>
<p>He&rsquo;s even got the Tea Party&rsquo;s anti-big-government rhetoric down. He wrote in February as sequestration approached,&nbsp; &ldquo;we should immediately begin the mobilization of pastors and pews to contact&mdash;read tongue-lash and rail against &ndash; local Congressman and U.S. Senators to decry the immoral debt being piled on our kids and grandkids because Congress lacks the guts to make hard, painful decisions and cut spending.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In fact, Lane covers all the issues important to the modern day right, connecting them to court decisions upholding the separation of church and state, which he <a href="http://www.westernjournalism.com/a-call-to-all-pastors/">says</a> created a religion of secularism:</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">This &lsquo;religion of secularism&rsquo; has produced red ink as far as the eye can see, homosexuals praying at the Inauguration, tax-funded abortion, homosexual marriage in several States, Evangelicals held in contempt, and God expelled from the classrooms of America &ndash; and the public square.</p>
<p>Lane is connected to <a href="http://championthevote.com/about.html">Champion the Vote</a>, a project of <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/united-purpose">United in Purpose</a>, which had aimed to unseat President Obama with an effort &ldquo;to mobilize 5 million unregistered conservative Christians to register and vote according to the Biblical worldview in 2012.&rdquo; United in Purpose <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/15/nation/la-na-evangelical-outreach-20110916">produced</a> DVDs of Lane&rsquo;s 2011 event in Orlando to distribute for house parties. In the wake of Rick Perry&rsquo;s supposedly non-political &ldquo;Response&rdquo; rally, the American Family Association <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/afa-using-perrys-prayer-rally-mailing-list-mobilize-christian-voters">sent</a> out emails to those who registered for the event&nbsp; to engage them in Champion the Vote.&nbsp; It said the Response &ldquo;was just the beginning of a nationwide initiative to return America to the principles on which she was founded, with God at the center of our nation.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Politicians like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul should be held to account for partnering politically with David Lane. But given the increasingly small differences between the GOP&rsquo;s right wing and its <em>really</em> right wing, we probably shouldn&rsquo;t expect politicians cozying up to Lane to show any discomfort with his extremism. As Ted Cruz <a href="http://nbclatino.com/2013/06/10/ted-cruz-hes-a-proud-wacko-bird-obama-is-one-blocking-immigration-reform/">said</a> in another context, &ldquo;If standing for liberty , if standing for free market principle and the Constitution makes you a wacko bird, then, then I am a very proud wacko bird.&rdquo;</p>
Peter MontgomeryAmerican Family Association Anti-ChoiceAnti-GayChurch-StateIowa Renewal Project Jim GarlowLaurence White Mat Staver Mike Huckabee Mitt RomneyNewt Gingrich Pastors and PewsPeter LeithartRalph Reed Rand PaulRediscovering God in AmericaReligious Libertyreligious persecution rhetoricRepublican PartyRick Perry Rick Santorum Robert Jeffress Separation of Church and StateTed CruzUnited In PurposeValues Voter SummitAmerican Renewal ProjectChampion The VoteDavid Barton David Brody David LaneDon Wildmon Doug WeadFighting the Right43682Wed, 17 Jul 2013 10:02:20 -0500Mitt RomneyTeavangelicals Told to Be ‘Happy Warriors’ Against Liberals, Big Govt, GOP Nay-sayershttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/teavangelicals-told-be-happy-warriors-against-liberals-big-govt-gop-nay-sayers
<p>Here&rsquo;s a question for Ralph Reed and the &lsquo;Teavangelical&rsquo; wing of the conservative movement: how can you portray yourselves as serious about governing when the keynote speakers at last week&rsquo;s &ldquo;Road to Majority&rdquo; conference were Donald Trump and Sarah Palin?</p>
<p>Palin&rsquo;s conference-closing remarks on Saturday featured a breathtakingly offensive joke about the Syrian civil war, which has taken an estimated 100,000 lives. She said we should just &ldquo;let Allah sort it out.&rdquo; Palin also had choice words for the bipartisan immigration reform bill moving through the Senate, which she dismissed as &ldquo;a pandering, rewarding-the-rule-breakers, still-no-border-security, special-interest-written amnesty bill.&rdquo; She was one of many conference speakers rhetorically crapping on Marco Rubio and the bipartisan &ldquo;Gang of 8&rdquo; reform bill and <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/conservative-latinos-slam-anti-immigrant-voices-ralph-reed-conference" target="_blank">burning the bridges</a> that conservative Latinos are trying to build.</p>
<p>At Friday night&rsquo;s &ldquo;gala&rdquo; Reed bestowed a lifetime achievement award on Pat Robertson, who is <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/pat-robertson" target="_blank">increasingly difficult to take seriously</a>, and who devoted his remarks to trashing President Obama.&nbsp; Trump, who also addressed the gala, spoke mostly about his own Trumpian greatness and how Mitt Romney might have been president if he had the guts to run Trump&rsquo;s anti-Obama &ldquo;you&rsquo;re fired&rdquo; ad.&nbsp; Trump shared plenty of pablum and piercing political insights, such as the Republicans needing to be &ldquo;really smart&rdquo; in choosing a &ldquo;great candidate&rdquo; in 2016. Trump also criticized the immigration reform bill as a &ldquo;death wish&rdquo; for the Republican Party, saying &ldquo;every one of those people, and the tens of millions of people they will bring in with them, will be absolutely voting Democratic.&rdquo;</p>
<p>There&rsquo;s no question Ralph Reed still has pull. His conference opened with a <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/tea-party-senators-kick-ralph-reed-s-faith-freedom-conference" target="_blank">luncheon featuring four Tea Party senators</a> and he got a handful of Republican House members to speak along with former and future presidential hopefuls like Mike Huckabee, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, and Ted Cruz.&nbsp; Rick Perry, who was introduced as a &ldquo;Renaissance man,&rdquo; bragged about the law he recently signed to protect the ostensibly threatened right of public school students to wish each other &ldquo;Merry Christmas&rdquo; Perry said, &ldquo;&ldquo;I hope my state is a glowing example of men and women who believe that those traditional values are how you make a stronger society.&rdquo; Stronger society? <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/newt-worst-campaign-promise-ever" target="_blank">Not so much.</a></p>
<p>In addition to the divide on immigration, relentless attacks on President Obama (Dick Morris said of the president, &ldquo;he doesn&rsquo;t care about national security&rdquo;), and the unsurprising rhetoric on <a href="http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/06/15/on-day-two-right-wing-confab-turns-up-heat-on-abortion-issue/" target="_blank">abortion</a>, marriage, and supposed threats to religious liberty, there were some other major themes:</p>
<p><strong>Government Bad</strong></p>
<p>The conference was infused with the Tea Party&rsquo;s anti-federal-government themes. Jonah Goldberg of the National Review reminded people of a video shown at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, which he recalled saying the government is the one thing we all belong to.&nbsp; &ldquo;Now, as sort of a Tea Party-ish kind of guy, that makes me want to flip the safety on my rifle.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Speakers urged activists to take advantage of the recent scandals surrounding the IRS, the Justice Department, and the National Security Agency. Santorum urged activists to &ldquo;think big&rdquo; and &ldquo;seize the moment&rdquo; provided by the IRS scandal. Sen. Ron Johnson said he would like Americans to apply their disgust about the scandals to the federal government in general. Rather than trying to restore faith in government, Johnson said, activists should be fostering distrust of the government.</p>
<p>Grover Norquist is known for his quip that he wants to shrink the government until it is small enough to drown in the bathtub.&nbsp; At Road to Majority he spelled out his plan to complete the strategy he embarked on with the Bush tax cuts and the no-tax-increase pledge he demands Republican candidates sign. He noted that &ldquo;thanks to the marvels of modern redistricting,&rdquo; Republicans are likely to have a Republican House until 2022, which means they have several chances to get a Senate majority and a Republican in the White House before then. Whenever that happens, he says, Republicans can put the Ryan budget into law and dramatically curtail government spending. He calls it &ldquo;completely doable.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Meanwhile, he said, in the 25 states where Republicans control the legislative and executive branches, activists should push for the passage of more anti-union legislation, and for laws that encourage people to obtain concealed carry permits, home school their children, and participate in stock ownership, three things that he said make people more Republican. He called this changing the demographics by changing the rules.</p>
<p><strong>Obamacare: Will it Destroy America or Obama?</strong></p>
<p>House Republicans have made repealing the Affordable Care Act &ndash; &ldquo;Obamacare&rdquo; &ndash; an obsession. Rick Santorum said opposition to the law should have been the centerpiece of the 2012 campaign. And many speakers repeated the demand that the health care reform law be repealed in its entirety.&nbsp; Stephen Moore, founder of the Club for Growth and a Wall Street Journal editorial board member, said repealing Obamacare is the single most important thing that has to happen in Washington over the next two years. But a number of speakers had a slightly different take, suggesting that the implementation of the complex law would be its undoing, and that public outrage at rising insurance rates would bring down the Obama administration. Dick Morris predicted Obama would be &ldquo;destroyed&rdquo; by the law&rsquo;s implementation.</p>
<p><strong>GOP: Friend or Foe?</strong></p>
<p>One running theme of the conference was conservative activists&rsquo; distrust for national Republican leaders, particularly around opposition to abortion and LGBT equality. Several speakers made reference to the notorious RNC &ldquo;autopsy&rdquo; on the 2012 election and the perception that some party leaders want social conservatives to tone it down. Reed himself complained that while self-identified evangelicals represented 45 percent of the Republican ticket&rsquo;s vote, some party leaders were saying they are the problem and should &ldquo;ride in the back of the bus.&rdquo; He vowed that on issue of abortion and man-woman marriage, social conservatives would not be silent, &ldquo;not now, not ever.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s not just Ted Cruz who <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cruz-mocks-his-gop-colleagues-calls-newtown-families-props-and-takes-credit-blocking-backgro" target="_blank">mocks</a> his fellow Republicans. Gary Bauer complained that the last two Republican nominees had a hard time talking about sanctity of life issues, and he said party officials in Washington spend too much time taking the advice of &ldquo;cowardly pollsters and political consultants.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mike Huckabee complained that &ldquo;Republicans have been, if not equal, sometimes more guilty than Democrats in thinking the brilliant thing to do would be to centralize more power in the hands of the central government.&rdquo; He said he&rsquo;s &ldquo;sick of hearing&rdquo; that people think the GOP needs to move away from a conservative message.</p>
<p>There was enough grumbling that when it was RNC Chairman Reince Priebus&rsquo;s turn to speak on Saturday, the Wisconsin Faith & Freedom official who introduced him felt a need to vouch for Priebus&rsquo;s faith and commitment to conservative causes. He said angrily that it is &ldquo;an absolute lie&rdquo; that Priebus is not a social conservative and insisted that there is no division in the party.</p>
<p>Priebus started his remarks by establishing his religious credentials: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a Christian. I&rsquo;m a believer. God lives in my heart, and I&rsquo;m for changing minds, not changing values.&rdquo; He added, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m so grateful that we&rsquo;ve got a party that prays, that we&rsquo;ve got a party that puts God first, and I&rsquo;m proud to be part of that.&rdquo; He said he &ldquo;gets it&rdquo; that conservative Christians are a &ldquo;blessing&rdquo; to the party. He said the GOP needs to have a permanent ground game in place all across the country.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Priebus defended his plan to shorten the presidential primary season and move the party convention from August to June from critics who call it an insider move against grassroots conservatives. It isn&rsquo;t an establishment takeover, he insisted, but a way to prevent a replay of the 2012, when Romney went into the summer months broke after a long primary season but not yet able to tap general election funding.</p>
<p>Still, not all the conservative are convinced that national Republicans are with them.&nbsp; Palin portrayed Republicans in Washington as being overly fond of government spending: &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter if it&rsquo;s a Republican or a Democrat sitting atop a bloated boot on your neck, out of control government, everyone gets infected, no party is immune. That&rsquo;s why, I tell ya, I&rsquo;m listening to those independents, to those libertarians who are saying, you know, it is both sides of the aisle, the leadership, the good old boys&hellip;.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Phyllis Schlafly talked about having waged internal battles to make the GOP a solidly anti-abortion Party and encouraged activists not to be seduced by talk of a conservative third party but to work within the Republican Party to make sure the right people on the ballot. Norquist insisted that activists had helped brand the GOP as the party that will not raise your taxes, and he said Republican elected officials who vote for tax increases damage the brand for everyone else. They are, he said, &ldquo;rat heads in coca-cola.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Message Envy</strong></p>
<p>It might surprise many progressives, who have spent years bemoaning the effectiveness of Republicans&rsquo; emotion-laden rhetoric, that speaker after speaker complained that Democrats are so much better than Republicans at messaging.&nbsp; Of course complaining about messaging is easier than admitting that there may be something about your policies that voters don&rsquo;t like.</p>
<p>At a panel on messaging strategies, author Diane Medved said that when defending traditional marriage, she would love to say &ldquo;what is it about &lsquo;abomination&rsquo; that you don&rsquo;t understand?&rdquo; But she knows that won&rsquo;t reach people who don&rsquo;t already agree with her. She argued that conservatives should marshal the &ldquo;science&rdquo; that supports their positions.&nbsp; She also tried out a new messaging strategy, saying that opposition to marriage equality is a feminist issue because it is empowering to women to affirm that they are different than men. &ldquo;Women deserve to have credit for being who they are as a separate gender and they are not interchangeable with men.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Ryan Anderson, co-author of a book on marriage with Robert George, the intellectual godfather of the anti-marriage-equality movement, took issue with the name of the panel, which was &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t Preach to the Choir.&rdquo; Anderson said the choir needs to be preached to, because too many Christians are giving up on marriage. There is no such thing as parenting, he insisted, there is mothering and fathering. Anderson said that anti-marriage equality forces have only been fighting for five years, while proponents have been fighting for 20 to 30 years. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that our argument for marriage has been heard and been rejected,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s that it hasn&rsquo;t been heard at all.&rdquo;&nbsp; Anderson promoted the widely discredited Regnerus study on family structures as evidence that science is on his side.</p>
<p>Eric Teetsel, executive director of the Manhattan Declaration, encouraged activists to be careful with their rhetoric. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe that there are very many, if any, people in this movement, certainly not in public life, who have any ill will toward the same-sex community, at all. But sometimes we say things that make it sound like we do.&rdquo; If Teetsel really believes that, he needs to spend some more time actually listening to conservative religious leaders, pundits and politicians who regularly charge that gay-rights advocates are Satan-inspired sexual predators who are out to destroy faith and freedom if not western civilization itself.</p>
<p><strong>Don&rsquo;t Worry, Be Happy <em>or </em>Arguing as a Lover with Stupid Liberals</strong></p>
<p>Anyone who pays attention to religious right groups has been seeing the word &ldquo;winsome&rdquo; a lot. Conservative evangelical leaders are well aware of polling data that shows young Christians are turned off by the anti-gay bigotry they see in the church.&nbsp; So there&rsquo;s a push on for everyone to make conservative arguments in a &ldquo;winsome&rdquo; way, to be &ldquo;happy warriors&rdquo; like Ronald Reagan, to be cheerful when arguing with liberals. Being cheerful was a big theme at Road to Majority. Said Rick Perry, &ldquo;when we fight for our county, we need to do it with joy.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Manhattan Declaration's Teetsel took this theme to new heights in the messaging panel in which he called for &ldquo;arguing as a lover&rdquo; when &ldquo;trying to woo people over to our side&rdquo;: be respectful, self-effacing, funny, give people an opportunity to save face.&nbsp; But he doesn&rsquo;t seem to think much of his audience, saying America is no longer a society of ideas, and that in our celebrity-crazed culture it doesn&rsquo;t make sense to appeal to 18<sup>th</sup> Century sources of authority like the Federalist Papers, which &ldquo;are not considered authorities in my generation. People do not care what these men in wigs thought 300 years ago.&rdquo;</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">&ldquo;We serve a God who condescended to become a man in order to share his gospel. And I think that&rsquo;s an example that we can learn from. Romans 12:16 advises us, do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. So we have to bite the bullet.&nbsp; We have to recognize some of these facts and condescend to watching Glee from time to time so that we can talk to people about it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
Peter MontgomeryBarack ObamaGary BauerGrover Norquist Herman Cain Jonah GoldbergMarco RubioMike Huckabee Mitt RomneyObamacarePhyllis SchlaflyRalph Reed Reince PriebusRepublican PartyRepublican PartyRick Santorum Road to Majority ConferenceSarah Palin tea partyTed CruzDick MorrisDonald TrumpFaith and Freedom CoalitionFighting the Right43429Thu, 20 Jun 2013 13:48:00 -0500Mitt RomneyRight Wing Leftovers - 6/7/13http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-leftovers-6713
<ul>
<li>
Apparently, the real victim of Hurricane Sandy was <a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/06/mitt-romney-cnn-interview-hurricane-sandy/65986/">Mitt Romney</a>.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
Sarah Palin will<a href="http://christiannewswire.com/news/6278372239.html"> join</a> the likes of Donald Trump and Pat Robertson at Ralph Reed&rsquo;s Road to the Majority conference next week.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
So much for rebranding the GOP: RNC chairman Reince Priebus<a href="http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/reince-priebus-praises-ew-jackson-as-dynamic-articulate">&nbsp;hails</a>&nbsp;extremist Virginia lieutenant governor candidate E.W. Jackson as &ldquo;dynamic&rdquo; and &ldquo;articulate.&rdquo;&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
We wonder what kind of response Mike Huckabee will get from right-wing activists and Glenn Beck for <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/5/huckabee-urges-states-back-common-core/">advocating on behalf of Common Core</a>.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
Family Research Council <a href="http://www.frc.org/op-eds/et-phones-home-on-marriage">looks to space</a> to find a reason to oppose marriage equality.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
Bradlee Dean is &ldquo;exposing the enemy of the people,&rdquo; and you guessed right, <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/exposing-the-enemy-of-the-people/">it&rsquo;s Obama</a>.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
The Osmond Family is <a href="http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2013/06/another-anti-gay-osmonds-rally.html">hosting</a> David Barton and Rep. Jason Chaffetz for an anti-gay marriage event.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
It seems even Fox News isn&rsquo;t conservative enough for Tea Party Nation president Judson Phillips, who is now telling us to watch the <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/help-block-al-jazeeras-jihad-on-american-cable-tv-97441/">One America News Network</a>&nbsp;instead.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
Quote of the day courtesy of <a href="http://napervillesun.suntimes.com/news/20585053-418/kirk-cameron-brings-his-evangelical-tour-to-naperville.html">Kirk Cameron</a>: &ldquo;When I look and see the opportunities I have here in Hollywood to spread some light and some life in a place that is notorious for exporting so much moral filth and darkness, it&rsquo;s exciting.&rdquo;</li>
</ul>
Brian TashmanJudson PhillipsLeftoversMitt RomneySarah Palin David Barton Family Research CouncilGlenn Beck43303Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:55:29 -0500Mitt RomneyRight Wing Leftovers - 6/6/13http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-leftovers-6613
<ul>
<li>
Mitt Romney very much <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/06/romney-regrets-47-comments/">regrets his 47% comments</a> that he <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81312.html">repeatedly</a> <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/09/18/161364378/in-fox-interview-romney-doubles-down-on-47-percent-comments">defended</a>.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
One week after the GOP unveiled a new campaign effort to <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/30/republicans-to-double-spending-in-effort-to-convert-latino-voters/">carry the Latino vote</a>, House Republicans just <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/06/06/2114081/house-republicans-booed-as-they-vote-to-deport-dreamers/">approved Rep. Steve King&rsquo;s amendment</a> that would defund a program which works to prevent the deportation of DREAMers.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
Joseph Farah <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/how-liberalism-kills/">claims</a> Kathleen Sebelius has &ldquo;set herself up as a one-woman death panel.&rdquo;&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
The Religious Right magazine <em>Charisma</em> responded to a new poll showing majority support for marriage equality by asking: &ldquo;<a href="http://www.charismanews.com/us/39787-can-power-of-prayer-stop-gay-marriage-rush">Can Power of Prayer Stop Gay Marriage Rush?</a>&rdquo;&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
Ex-gay activist Janet Boynes <a href="http://www.charismamag.com/life/culture/17952-kirk-franklin-s-response-to-homosexuality-a-missed-opportunity">demands</a> that pastors &ldquo;shed light on the lies the enemy is trying to feed our generation&rdquo; about homosexuality.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Brian TashmanC4Janet BoynesJoseph Farah LeftoversMitt RomneySteve King CharismaFighting the Right43289Thu, 06 Jun 2013 16:30:29 -0500Mitt RomneyPat Robertson, Who Said 'The Lord Told Me' that 'Romney Will Win,' Urges Viewers to Beware False Prophetshttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-who-said-lord-told-me-romney-will-win-urges-viewers-beware-false-prophets
<p>On today&rsquo;s episode of the <em>700 Club</em>, Pat Robertson urged viewers to avoid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Robertson#Predictions">false prophets</a>&nbsp;and televangelists caught up in scandal. &ldquo;By your fruits you shall know them, what&rsquo;s their track record?&rdquo; Robertson <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2wJRUSaCF0&feature=youtu.be">told</a> cohost Terry Meeuwsen, &ldquo;You can dominate somebody that way: I&rsquo;ve heard from the Lord, I have a message for you, do this.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/a2wJRUSaCF0" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>Funny he should mention this, because just today we stumbled across an interview between Pat Robertson and televangelist Benny Hinn the week before the presidential election where Robertson bluntly informed Hinn that &ldquo;the Lord told me&rdquo; that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QxAulXqlgc&feature=youtu.be">Mitt Romney would defeat President Obama</a>.</p>
<p>Not only did God inform Robertson that &ldquo;Romney will win&rdquo; but that he will be a two-term president who presides over a huge economic boom.</p>
<p>Robertson even told Romney to save him a ticket for the inauguration: &ldquo;I told Mitt a long time ago, I called him and said listen, I&rsquo;ve been in prayer and number one you&rsquo;re going to win the nomination and number two you&rsquo;re going to win the general election, he said &lsquo;well what can I do for you,&rsquo; I said give me a seat on the platform during your inauguration, give me a ticket to your inauguration.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Lord said he&rsquo;s going to have a second term, I told him there will be to be trillions of dollars coming into the economy when you&rsquo;re elected,&rdquo; Robertson continued, &ldquo;the stock market ought to boom, everything ought to boom.&rdquo;</p>
<p>This all deeply reassured Hinn who said that Robertson was conveying &ldquo;God&rsquo;s voice.&rdquo;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QxAulXqlgc&feature=youtu.be">Watch:</a></p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2QxAulXqlgc" width="560"></iframe></p>
Brian Tashman700 ClubC4Election 2012Mitt RomneyPat Robertson Benny HinnChristian Broadcasting NetworkFighting the Right43008Thu, 09 May 2013 12:00:10 -0500Mitt RomneyRight Wing Round-Up - 5/1/13http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-round-5113
<ul> <li> <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/04/30/ted-nugent-military-service-members-are-committ/193843">Oliver Willis @ Media Matters</a>: Ted Nugent: Military Service Members Are Committing Suicide Because Obama Is "Violating" The Constitution.</li> <p> <li> <a href="http://www.towleroad.com/2013/05/butler.html">Towleroad</a>: Wisconsin Church Cancels Former NFL Player LeRoy Butler's Speech Over Tweet Supporting Jason Collins.</li> <p> <li> <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2013/05/01/55709">Jim Burroway @ Box Turtle Bulletin</a>: Robert Gagnon Explains Why Consensual Gay Relationships Are Worse Than Bestiality and Incest.</li> <p> <li> <a href="http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/candacechellew-hodge/7084/hater_pastor_loses_his_wife_of_42_years__uses_the_occasion_to_trash_gays/">Candace Chellew-Hodge @ Religion Dispatches</a>: Hater Pastor Loses His Wife of 42 Years, Uses the Occasion to Trash Gays.</li> <p> <li> <a href="http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201305010002">Carlos Maza @ Equality Matters</a>: Alex Jones Warns Against Transgender People &ldquo;Vomiting And Crapping All Over The Place&rdquo; If They&rsquo;re Protected By Non-Discrimination Laws.</li> <p> <li> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/post/mitt-romney-wants-you-to-get-married-in-your-20s-also-get-a-quiver-full-of-kids/2013/04/30/8c9f9076-b1c3-11e2-9a98-4be1688d7d84_blog.html">Emily Heil @ In The Loop</a>: Mitt Romney wants you to get married in your 20s (also, get a &lsquo;quiver full&rsquo; of kids).</li></ul>
Kyle MantylaJim GarlowMitt RomneyRound-UpTed Nugent42923Wed, 01 May 2013 16:37:02 -0500Mitt RomneyBauer: 'Only Reason that Romney Won North Carolina' was Anti-Gay Ad Campaignhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bauer-only-reason-romney-won-north-carolina-was-anti-gay-ad-campaign
<p>Gary Bauer filled in for Family Research Council head Tony Perkins on <a href="http://www.frc.org/wwlivewithtonyperkins/gary-bauer-tom-rose"><em>Washington Watch</em></a> yesterday where he <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bauer-gop-won-emphasized-marriage-abortion">once again</a> blamed the Republican Party&rsquo;s problems on a lack of opposition to gay marriage and abortion rights.</p>
<p>Bauer, who once led the FRC but now runs American Values and the Campaign for Working Families, chided President Obama for favoring marriage equality and claimed that &ldquo;if Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today&rdquo; he would condemn Obama&rsquo;s pro-gay rights stance, which Bauer said &ldquo;twisted and distorted&rdquo; the legacy of the civil rights movement.</p>
<p>&ldquo;But in spite of all we&rsquo;ve done, all of our work, everything that you&rsquo;ve done at the grassroots level,&rdquo; Bauer lamented, &ldquo;we are right on the edge of losing that issue.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="undefined" flashvars="file=/sites/default/files/mp3/bauer-marriage-election-1.mp3" height="20" src="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/sites/default/files/mp3/player.swf" width="400"></embed></p>
<p>Later in the program, Bauer told a caller from North Carolina that the sole reason Romney won the state and no other swing states was because Bauer ran ads there attacking Obama&rsquo;s position on marriage equality.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We lost them all again except for one state and it was North Carolina,&rdquo; Bauer said. &ldquo;I believe the only reason that Gov. Romney won North Carolina was because the voters of that state were reminded of that issue, so it&rsquo;s a lesson I think for the Republican Party.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="undefined" flashvars="file=/sites/default/files/mp3/bauer-marriage-election-2.mp3" height="20" src="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/sites/default/files/mp3/player.swf" width="400"></embed></p>
<blockquote>
Let me give a tip of the hat to North Carolina, you know in 2008 President Obama won all of the swing states that are so important in presidential politics. In this last presidential election in 2012 there was a major effort made by conservatives to get those swing states back. Unfortunately, we lost them all again except for one state and it was North Carolina. The people of North Carolina took another look at Barack Obama and decided, &lsquo;hey, we made a mistake four years ago,&rsquo; and this time around they voted differently. I&rsquo;d like to think at least in part that happened in North Carolina because of some ads that I and other groups ran in that state on the marriage issue, reminding the voters of North Carolina who had just voted just a little over a year ago to keep marriage between a man and a woman, that President Obama had come out right after that vote and had endorsed same-sex marriage. I believe the only reason that Gov. Romney won North Carolina was because the voters of that state were reminded of that issue, so it&rsquo;s a lesson I think for the Republican Party.</blockquote>
<p>That&rsquo;s right; Bauer thinks that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Oye4rhUa2Fk">this ad</a> put Romney over the top in North Carolina.</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Oye4rhUa2Fk" width="560"></iframe></p>
Brian TashmanAnti-GayC4Election 2012Gary BauerMarriage EqualityMitt RomneyNorth CarolinaAmerican Values Campaign for Working Families Fighting the Right42534Fri, 22 Mar 2013 11:00:43 -0500Mitt RomneyRight Wing Round-Up - 3/13/13http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-round-31313
<ul> <li> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-b-keegan/the-new-march-madness-cpa_b_2867225.html">Michael B. Keegan @ Huffington Post</a>: The New March Madness: CPAC's Guest List.</li> <p> <li> <a href="http://www.towleroad.com/2013/03/obama-i-cannot-imagine-that-laws-banning-gays-from-marrying-will-pass-constitutional-muster-video.html">Towleroad</a>: Obama: I Cannot Imagine That Laws Banning Gays from Marrying Will Pass Constitutional Muster.</li> <p> <li> <a href="http://tfninsider.org/2013/03/12/these-people-sound-nuts/">Dan @ TFN Insider</a>: These People Sound Like Nuts.</li> <p> <li> <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/03/13/1710581/author-of-fraudulent-gay-parenting-study-to-speak-at-nom-conference/">Zack Ford @ Think Progress</a>: Author Of Fraudulent Gay Parenting Study To Speak At NOM Conference.</li> <p> <li> <a href="http://www.alan.com/2013/03/13/romney-47-tape-may-not-have-leaked-if-he-had-been-nicer-to-staff/">Alan Colmes</a>: Romney &rsquo;47%&rsquo; Tape May Not Have Leaked If He Had Been Nicer To Staff.</li></ul>
Kyle MantylaMitt RomneyRound-UpCPAC 42442Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:39:22 -0500Mitt RomneyRight Wing Round-Up - 2/21/13http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-round-22113
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-raskin/the-presidents-agenda-fac_b_2687681.html">Jamin Raskin @ Huffington Post</a>: The President&rsquo;s Agenda Faces Peril in the Courts.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/02/21/1622571/associated-press-caves-acknowledges-same-sex-marriages-as-husbands-and-wives/">Zack Ford @ Think Progress</a>: Associated Press Caves, Acknowledges Same-Sex Marriage As &lsquo;Husbands&rsquo; And &lsquo;Wives.&rsquo;&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/21/17043549-ladypeople-indiana-republicans-would-like-a-look-at-your-insides?lite">Laura Conaway @ Maddow Blog</a>: Ladypeople, Indiana Republicans would like a look at your insides.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/02/21/its_ok_to_stop_pretending_mitt/">Steve Kornacki @ Salon</a>: It&rsquo;s OK to stop pretending, Mitt.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/crowd-cheers-after-mccain-tells-aurora-victims-mother?ref=fpa">David Taintor @ Talking Points Memo</a>: Crowd Cheers After McCain Tells Aurora Victim&rsquo;s Mother She Needs &lsquo;Straight Talk.&rsquo;&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://wonkette.com/502171/montana-law-enforcement-will-protect-you-from-other-law-enforcement-because-freedom">Wonkette</a>: Montana Law Enforcement Will Protect You From Other Law Enforcement Because Freedom.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/02/friends-of-hamas-and-andrew-breitbarts-legacy.html">Alex Koppleman @ The New Yorker</a>: &lsquo;Friends of Hamas&rsquo; and Andrew Breitbart&rsquo;s Legacy.</li>
</ul>
Brian TashmanBen ShapiroJohn McCain Mitt RomneyRound-Up42271Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:00:09 -0500Mitt RomneyStaver Blames Romney for Gay Marriage Wins, Blasts Fox Newshttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/staver-blames-romney-gay-marriage-wins-blasts-fox-news
<p>On today's "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOC14-JyHlw">Faith and Freedom</a>" radio program, Mat Staver insisted that Americans in general still oppose marriage equality, despite the recent election results in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington and basically blamed Mitt Romney's refusal to campaign on the issue for the losses, as well as his own election loss. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Staver <a href="http://youtu.be/ETmAYWtdzOM">said</a> that had Romney campaigned on the issue, his support would have gone up as would support for the anti-marriage efforts before blasting conservative pundits who are now saying the GOP needs to distance itself from the social issues culture war, declaring "I'm fed up with people on Fox News, whether it's Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly; they think they just know everything":&nbsp;</p> <p align="center"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ETmAYWtdzOM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>Kyle MantylaElection 2012Liberty Counsel Mat Staver Mitt RomneyC3Fighting the Right41572Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:08:44 -0500Mitt RomneyRalph Reed: It's Not My Faulthttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ralph-reed-its-not-my-fault
<p>Election Day was a lousy day for the Religious Right. But movement leaders have been quick to assert that they are not to blame, pointing fingers variously at Hurricane Sandy, Mitt Romney, the unknown waiter who recorded Romney&rsquo;s dismissive &ldquo;47 percent&rdquo; remarks, and the strong turnout of young voters and people of color.</p>
<div>Religious Right leaders had spent four years attacking Obama an enemy of faith, freedom, God, and America, only to see him re-elected in an Electoral College landslide. They had warned that defeating him might be a last chance to forestall God&rsquo;s judgment on America. They fasted and prayed and believed that they would be delivered on Election Day. But that&rsquo;s not what happened.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Not only did Obama win big, but voters in Maine and Maryland embraced marriage equality, and Washington seems likely to join them.&nbsp; Minnesota voters rejected a Religious Right-backed attempt to put anti-gay discrimination into the state&rsquo;s constitution.&nbsp; Tammy Baldwin was elected to the Senate, where she will be the first openly gay member.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Well before all those results were in, it was clear that the night was not going according to what Religious Right leaders had thought was God&rsquo;s plan. &nbsp;At 10 pm, Tony Perkins and Jim Garlow held a phone call briefing for pastors. It was a very subdued affair, with representatives of the state marriage campaigns trying to sound hopeful about the then-uncalled outcomes in their states.&nbsp; Perkins and Garlow also held a Wednesday webcast on the "aftermath and aftershocks" as the scope of their Election Day drubbing sank in (see <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/family-research-council-licks-wounds-election">video highlights</a>). &nbsp;&ldquo;The problem in America is sin,&rdquo; said Garlow. But, he said, &ldquo;we have no problem that the next Great Awakening cannot solve.&rdquo;</div>
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<div>The tendency after an election defeat to avoid blame by casting it elsewhere was in full flower the day after the election. &nbsp;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/jim-jordan">Rep. Jim Jordan</a>, a Religious Right favorite, described Mitt Romney as &ldquo;the most liberal Republican nominee in history&rdquo; who had &ldquo;waffled&rdquo; on abortion, had passed a health care bill as governor, and had a hard time convincing conservatives on his commitments on taxing and spending.&nbsp; Perkins criticized Romney for not campaigning on issues of life, marriage, and religious liberty, even though Obama used them to appeal to his base. Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway agreed, saying Republicans had not done enough to draw the contrast on social and &ldquo;moral&rdquo; issues. Regarding the marriage wins, Perkins blamed Obama in part, saying the president&rsquo;s policies have had &ldquo;a shaping influence on the culture.&rdquo; He and others also blamed marriage equality proponents&rsquo; financial advantage.</div>
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<div>In a Wednesday morning press conference at the National Press Club, Ralph Reed&rsquo;s message was clear: don&rsquo;t look at me. Reed had made sweeping promises that the Faith and Freedom&nbsp; Coalition, his conservative voter ID and turnout operation, would stun pollsters and lead to a big conservative victory.&nbsp; &ldquo;We did our job,&rdquo; he insisted, recounting the tens of millions of phone calls, mailings, and other voter contacts his group made.&nbsp; He said his group had run the most efficient, most technologically superior voter contact and GOVT operation the faith community has ever seen.&nbsp; He claimed credit for <a href="http://ffcoalition.com/blog/2012-11-07/evangelical-vote-increases-record-27-electorate-breaks-heavily-romney">increasing </a>both white evangelicals&rsquo; share of the electorate and the share of the vote they gave to the Republican nominee.&nbsp; But it wasn&rsquo;t enough.</div>
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<div>&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t do the Republican Party&rsquo;s job for them.&nbsp; We can&rsquo;t do the candidates&rsquo; job for them.&rdquo; In part, Reed blamed &ldquo;candidate performance issues,&rdquo; his euphemism for the Akin-Mourdoch rape comments that led to their undoing.</div>
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<div>Reed said his successful efforts were not in the end sufficient because people of color and young voters turned out in numbers that he had not anticipated -- and voted overwhelmingly to re-elect the president. &nbsp;The fact that young voters, African Americans, and Latinos turned out so strongly seems to have stunned conservative figures across the board. And it confirmed for many of them the need for the Republican Party and the conservative movement to stop alienating Latinos and figure out how to attract younger voters.&nbsp; &ldquo;We need to do a better job of not looking like your daddy&rsquo;s Religious Right,&rdquo; said Reed.</div>
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<div>Some Religious Right leaders sought solace in faith that God is ultimately in control.&nbsp; &ldquo;America as we know it may have signed its death warrant tonight,&rdquo; said Garlow during the pastors' briefing.&nbsp; But not to worry, he said, nations come and go, but God&rsquo;s kingdom is forever. Perkins said FRC and its allies would continue to stand strong in the face of &ldquo;an increasingly hostile culture.&rdquo;</div>
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<div>Others looked forward to the next political fight.&nbsp; Pollster Conway predicted that 2014 would bring, like 2010&rsquo;s Tea Party wave, a conservative resurgence and called for candidate recruitment to begin now. &nbsp;Perkins agreed that conservatives have never had a stronger &ldquo;farm team&rdquo; and touted potential conservative candidates for 2016, including Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, Rand Paul, and Mike Pence.</div>Peter MontgomeryElection 2012Jim GarlowMarriage EqualityMitt RomneyRalph Reed Tony Perkins Faith and Freedom CoalitionFamily Research CouncilFighting the Right41488Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:03:22 -0500Mitt RomneyRight Wing Round-Up - 10/31/12http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-round-103112
<ul> <li><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-raskin/the-frightening-prospect_b_2049729.html">Jamie Raskin @ Huffington Post:</a>&nbsp;The Frightening Prospect of a Romney Court.</li> <p> <li><a href="http://www.towleroad.com/2012/10/katrina-relief-mismanager-michael-heckuva-job-brownie-brown-criticizes-obama-on-response-to-sandy.html">Towleroad</a>:&nbsp;Katrina FEMA Mismanager Michael 'Heckuva Job Brownie' Brown Criticizes Obama on Response to Sandy.</li> <p> <li><a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/the-making-of-romneys-storm-relief-event">McKay Coppins @ BuzzFeed</a>: The Making Of Romney's Storm Relief Event.</li> <p> <li><a href="http://www.alan.com/2012/10/31/donald-trump-so-concerned-about-sandy-he-extends-deadline-for-president-to-accept-his-offer/">Alan Colmes</a>:&nbsp;Donald Trump So Concerned About Sandy He Extends Deadline For President To Accept His Offer.</li> <p> <li><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/10/31/1114381/gop-congressman-warns-of-hurricane-sandy-relief-aid-going-towards-gucci-bags/">Adam Peck @ Think Progress</a>: GOP Congressman Warns Of Hurricane Sandy Relief Aid Going Towards &lsquo;Gucci Bags.'</li></ul>Kyle MantylaMitt RomneyRound-UpSteve King Donald Trump41415Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:39:56 -0500Mitt RomneyReligious Right Leader: Vote Romney Because Mormons Believe US Constitution is Biblical Truthhttp://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rr-leader-vote-romney-because-mormons-believe-us-constitution-biblical-truth
<p>As RWW has noted, most Religious Right leaders have cast <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/engle-prophetic-experiences-seemed-indicate-romney-was-sort-window-mercy-america">aside</a> whatever reservations they once had about voting for Mitt Romney, whose Mormonism many do not consider a Christian faith.&nbsp; Sure, they&rsquo;d rather have a conservative evangelical or right-wing Catholic as the GOP nominee, but they lost that chance in the primaries.&nbsp; And they are so eager to defeat Barack Obama, and avoid the <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/were-asking-gods-judgment-our-country-exercise-hypocrisy">divine wrath</a> that his re-election would provoke, that they have circled the wagons around Romney.</p>
<div>In September, more than two dozen Religious Right leaders wrote a <a href="http://www.religionnews.com/politics/election/conservative-christian-leaders-urge-focus-on-romneys-policies-not-faith">letter</a> dismissing differences over doctrine, praising the Republican platform, and saying &ldquo;it is time to remind ourselves that civil government is not about a particular theology but rather about public policy." Long past time, some might say.</div>
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<div><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/marc-nuttle">Marc Nuttle</a>, a board member of the dominionist <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/oak-initiative">Oak Initiative</a> and regular speaker at the <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/freedom-federation-0">Freedom Federation</a>&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-war-room-weekends-awakening-conference">Awakening</a> conferences, goes one better. Rather than telling evangelicals they should vote for Romney in spite of his Mormonism, he essentially&nbsp;<a href="http://www.theoakinitiative.org/oak-leaf-32#.UJFa_YbiEtU">says</a> in a recent Oak Initiative bulletin that people should vote for Romney <em>because</em> of the Mormon faith&rsquo;s incorporation of the US Constitution into a particularly potent form of American exceptionalism:</div>
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<div>Governor Romney has been criticized by some for being a Mormon. &nbsp;I find this curious given the fact that little criticism has been given to the President who belonged to a church headed by a pastor who condemned the United States of America. &nbsp;</div>
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<div>The Mormon Church is the only religion that has canonized the Constitution of the United States as biblical truth. &nbsp;The scripture in point is Doctrine and Covenants, Section 101, Verses 77-80. &nbsp;In verse 80 the Lord is speaking, &ldquo;And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.&rdquo;</div>
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<div>Mormons believe the principles within the Constitution are eternal principles given to us from God Himself for the benefit of all mankind. &nbsp;They support the Constitution, they revere it, and they will defend it with all their strength. &nbsp;It is fundamental to their belief.</div>
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<div>If you are an evangelical and concerned about the federalization of moral values without consideration of the 9th or 10th Amendment, if you are a small business owner concerned about unfair taxes from a big business viewpoint, if you are a community&nbsp;banker concerned about onerous regulations based upon the concept of &ldquo;big banks are too big to fail,&rdquo; if you are worried about federal judges who legislate from the bench and do not respect the Constitution or state laws, then Governor Romney is the answer for your security.</div>
</blockquote>Peter MontgomeryConstitutionElection 2012Marc NuttleMitt RomneyMormonismOak InitiativeFreedom FederationFighting the Right41413Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:41:55 -0500Mitt Romney